A New Year’s Eve tradition for Italians is to eat pork sausage and lentils for happiness, well-being, and good fortune. Instead of sausage, Bob prefers a porchetta pork roast and, as a nod to my family tradition hailing from my stepfather’s Tennessee roots, black-eyed peas instead of lentils. The good luck doesn’t seem to have waned for the substitutions.
New Year’s Eve Porchetta
Adapted from Melissa Clark, NYTimes
Ingredients:
- 1 (7-8 pound) bone-in, skin-on pork shoulder roast, trimmed of fat to ¼ inch thickness
- ¼ cup chopped fennel fronds
- ¼ cup chopped fresh rosemary
- ¼ cup chopped fresh sage
- 5 garlic cloves, grated and made into a paste
- Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
- 1 ½ TBSP kosher salt
- 1 tsp fennel seed
- ¾ tsp red pepper flakes
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Preparation:
Score skin and fat all over pork without cutting all the way to the meat.
In a food processor or mortar and pestle, combine fennel fronds, rosemary, sage, garlic, lemon zest, salt, fennel seed, red pepper flakes, black pepper, and oil. Pulse or mash until a paste forms. Rub the paste all over the pork. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 6 hours, preferably overnight, in a bowl
Remove pork from fridge 1 to 2 hours before you want to cook it. Heat oven to 450 degrees. Transfer pork to a rimmed baking sheet and roast 35 minutes. Reduce temperature to 325 degrees and cook an additional 2 hours 45 minutes to 4 hours, until thermometer in thickest part of the meat reads 180 degrees.
Rest pork on a cutting board 15 to 30 minutes. Be sure to serve the cracklings with every slice (that’s the crispy skin that you scored). Fresh orange slices are a refreshing accompaniment and we enjoy this dish with a glass of our Royal Punishers Petite Sirah to welcome in the new year.