Ingredients
1.8kg pork shoulder roast
15-20 basil leaves
2 bay leaves
Pepper
to taste
1 bulb fennel
green tops cut off, cut in half, core removed and sliced
1 lemon
sliced thickly
5 cloves garlic
skin on
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp salt
Equipment
- 1 oven
- 1 baking tray
- 1 paper towel
- 1 aluminum foil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 220°C.
- Take pork out of packaging, remove netting and wash with cold water then pat dry with paper towel.
- Lie the pork skin side down, spread the meat out and give a good grind of black pepper to the inside meat.
- Add basil and bay leaves to the centre then roll the pork back up with skin facing upward.
- Leave for 30 minutes.
- Place sliced fennel, lemon slices, garlic into a baking tray and toss to combine.
- Place pork on top of fennel, pour over oil and sprinkle salt onto the skin.
- With your hands, rub salt into the skin – this will help you get good crackling.
- Place in the oven for 20 minutes then decrease the heat to 180°C and cook for a further 1 hour and ten minutes.
- Remove from the oven, cover with foil and rest for 15 minutes before slicing.
Notes
Tip
Cooking this in a Weber can add another layer of fabulous flavour to the pork.
Variation
If you prefer to remove the skin from the pork, just leave a little fat on the meat so it doesn’t dry out while cooking.
