Stuffed Slow Roasted Shoulder of Pork

A slow roasted stuffed shoulder of pork goes a long way in our family at Christmas time.  The children will arrive tomorrow to the smell of roasted pork and our supper will be hot pork sandwiches with stuffing and gravy served  in beautiful bread rolls, what’s not to like about that.  Then on the big day, slices of pork will sit alongside the spatchcocked turkey.  Any leftovers, will be finished off as part of the Boxing Day buffet, Sonia’s Soiree, as my sisters call our family feast.  This is adapted from Genarro and Jamie Oliver’s recipe.  You can’t go wrong!

Ingredients

3 kg boned shoulder of pork, butterflied and skin on

sea salt

freshly ground black pepper.

For the stuffing

2 onions, peeled and finely diced

Olive oil

200 g chicken livers, cleaned and roughly chopped

75 g pine nuts

100g breadcrumbs

100 g raisins or dried cranberries

½ bunch fresh sage, leaves picked and roughly chopped

½ bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked and roughly chopped

1 wineglass red wine or mulled wine, plus a drop extra for the stuffing

8 carrots.

Method

Preheat the oven to its highest setting. Lay the boned shoulder of pork on a board, skin-side down, and season well with a few really good sprinkles of salt and pepper. Massage this seasoning all over the meat.

Put a large pan on a medium heat and fry the diced onion in a lug of olive oil for about 10 minutes and when it's softened and sweetened but not coloured, turn the heat down to low and add the chopped chicken livers. Use a wooden spoon to mix everything together. Add the pine nuts, raisins, breadcrumbs, chopped sage and parsley, then season with a good sprinkle of salt and pepper. Pour in a splash of red or mulled wine, give everything a good stir then take your pan off the heat.

Put the stuffing in a bowl and put it to one side to cool down. Once your stuffing has completely cooled, spoon all of it down the middle of the opened shoulder. Roll the meat up quite tightly then tie it up as tightly as you can with 4 or 5 pieces of string. Dry the skin with kitchen roll, season with salt and pepper and rub the seasoning all over the skin to help it turn into delicious crackling. Lay the carrots across the middle of the roasting tray and put the meat on top. Pour a glass of red or mulled wine and a glass of water in the bottom of the tray then put the meat in the oven. Turn the heat down immediately to 180°C for about 4 hours until lovely and golden. Once it's out of the oven carefully remove the skin and break it into chunks of delicious crackling, then carve the meat.  Bellisimo!