ROAST SHOULDER OF PORK

It is hard to resist juicy roast pork with crackling and to be honest there really is very little to do when you have such fantastic quality pork. The few herbs are only to enhance the pork not to take away the natural flavour!

Serves 6

1 tsp fennel seeds
Flaky sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbsp oil
2-3 bay leaves
1 boned shoulder of pork (about 2.5kg) – score the skin about 1cm apart (or get the butcher to do it)

Heat the oven to 220C.

With a pestle and mortar, roughly bash the fennel seeds, a tablespoon of flaky sea salt and two teaspoons of black pepper. Mix into a paste with the oil.

Rub the paste all over the flesh and skin of the pork.

Lay the bay leaves in a roasting tray (use one that's not too big, so the juices don't burn), put the pork on top skin side-up, and roast for 30 minutes, until the skin has started to puff up and begun to look like crackling. Turn the heat to 160C, and roast for a further 2 ½ hours until the meat is very tender and the juices run clear.

Turn the oven up to 190C, and cook for a further 20 minutes or so, until the crackling crisps up. Transfer to a warm dish, rest for 20 minutes, then carve.

Serve with the natural juices.