Bring a touch of the Orient to a Sunday lunchtime in Autumn with this wonderfully spicy and slightly sweet flavoured roast. Pork offers great value for money and when served with root vegetables in season has a great taste. Vary the roots if liked to include parsnips, beetroot, salsify, celeriac and swede.
Serves: 6
Ingredients
- 2tsp Chinese 5 spice powder
- 3tbsp olive oil
- 15g fine sea salt
- 1.3kg pork loin roast, rind scored
- 2tsp grated root ginger
- 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
- ½ tsp chilli flakes (optional)
- 3 large floury potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
- 6 carrots, scrubbed and trimmed
- 6 small turnips, scrubbed and trimmed
- 2 sticks celery, each cut into 3 pieces
- fresh herbs, to garnish (optional)
Method
- Preheat the oven if necessary to 200°C/.ESSE Dial Guide HOT. (Aim for the dial reading to be in the middle of HOT).
- Rub the Chinese 5 spice powder, 1 tbsp of the oil and the salt over the pork, making sure it gets into the cuts in the rind. Place on a rack over a roasting tin and cook for 1 hour.
- Mix together the remaining oil with the ginger, sesame oil and chilli if used in a second roasting tin. Add the potatoes, carrots, turnips and celery, tossing well.
- Pour the fat and juices from the pork over the vegetables and return both to the oven (place the vegetables above the pork). Roast for a further 1 hour, turning the vegetables once, until both are tender and cooked.
- Allow the pork to rest in warm place, wrapped in foil, before slicing to serve with the roasted vegetables. Garnish with a few fresh herbs if liked.
Variation
Summer 5 Spiced Pork:
Prepare as above but use a selection of Summer vegetables like sliced courgettes, quartered peppers, wedges of red onion, cubes of aubergine and whole cloves of garlic instead of the roots. Roast for the final 40 minutes of the cooking time.
