• Looking for a great recipe to start the year? Slow-roasted pork with salsa verde and scruffy roast potatoes is a wonderfully filling dish. This recipe requires only a few ingredients, minimal preparation time, and except for the first part, once it’s in the oven you don’t have to worry about it. Easy, delicious, and satisfying.

    Slow-roasted pork with salsa verde and scruffy roast potatoes

    Serves: 8
    Cooking Time: 8 hrs or overnight

    Ingredients

    • 1 x 3,25kg pork shoulder
    • Marinade

    • 5 garlic cloves, crushed
    • 2 dried chillies, crushed, optional
    • 30ml (2 tbsp) dried thyme
    • 50g cumin seeds
    • 50g Spanish paprika
    • 150g Maldon smoked sea salt
    • juice of 5 lemons
    • 200ml olive oil
    • Salsa verde

    • 30ml (2 tbsp) fresh flat-leaf parsley
    • 30ml (2 tbsp) fresh basil
    • 30ml (2 tbsp) fresh mint
    • 30ml (2 tbsp) whole-grain mustard
    • 5 garlic cloves
    • 100ml capers
    • 6 small pickled gherkins
    • 4 anchovy fillets
    • 100ml red wine vinegar
    • 250ml (1 cup) olive oil
    • Scruffy potatoes

    • 12 large potatoes, peeled and halved
    • 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
    • 2 sprigs fresh thyme
    • 5ml (1 tsp) Maldon sea salt
    • 5ml (1 tsp) ground paprika
    • juice of ½ a lemon

    Instructions

    1

    Preheat the oven to 220ºC.

    2

    Put the meat on a work surface and with a sharp knife slash the skin in a few places.

    3

    Mix all the marinade ingredients together in a bowl, except for the lemon juice and oil. Pat the meat dry with a paper towel and rub the marinade all over the meat, including into the cuts.

    4

    Place the meat on a rack in a roasting tray and roast until the skin starts to blister, about 30 minutes.

    5

    Remove from the oven and pour over the lemon juice and 100ml of the oil. Reduce the oven temperature to 100°C, then return the meat to the oven and continue to roast for 8 hours, basting occasionally with the remaining oil. Remove the meat from the oven, cover with foil and set aside to rest, reserving the meat juices.

    6

    To make the salsa verde, place all the ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Place in the refrigerator until needed.

    7

    For the scruffy potatoes, parboil the potatoes for 10 minutes. Drain in a colander, toss and shake to scruff up the edges. Add the potatoes to the reserved meat juices and toss in the herbs, salt and paprika. Drizzle over the lemon juice and roast until golden brown and soft when pierced with a knife, about 30 minutes.

    8

    The meat will fall off the bone, so you don’t need to carve it, just break it up into chunks and serve with the potatoes and salsa verde.

    Notes

    To drink: Ridgeback Merlot 2006, with dusty plum aromas and herbal and spice notes to highlight the flavours without overpowering the light meat.

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    ALSO SEE: Roasted pork shoulder with cinnamon apples 

    Roasted pork shoulder with cinnamon apples