Two Clarks and Porchetta for Days: An unforgettable Pork Roast and a Cannellini Vegetable Soup from the leftovers.

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Jill Clark, Redhead and Cook

My friend Jill Clark introduced me to Melissa Clark’s recipe for “Counterfeit Porchetta” at the dinner party she and her husband Steve threw right before Christmas. Like Jill, I’d seen the recipe in the New York Times the week before and, like Jill, I was intrigued. Melissa Clark explained that in Italy, Porchetta is a spit-roasted, de-boned and stuffed baby pig seasoned with fennel, garlic, rosemary and lemon. (Confession: I wasn’t a Porchetta virgin. I’d made a mean counterfeit Porchetta before (see https://chewingthefat.us.com/2010/07/porchetta-slow-roasted-pork-shoulder.html)

Melissa Clark, Redhead and
Cook

But the version I had at Jill and Steven’s had me hooked from bite one. It is incredibly flavorful and juicy. The spicy, salty crust just begs the cook to pick at it before serving. Pork Shoulder is used here. You’d be hard-pressed to find any protein as economical as Pork Shoulder. The one I special-ordered came in at about $4.00 a lb. It’s terribly easy to cook mostly because it’s not fat-free by any means. The amber crust keeps the meat underneath juicy and tender. The platter of meat that emerged from our kitchen was soon devoured and with barely any leftovers. But there was the bone and a couple of slices of meat. So a day or two later, I turned both into a soup so perfect for cold weather, so ideal for using fresh and leftover vegetables, that I’d make Porchetta again just so I could make it.

Melissa Clark’s Porchetta

I am giving you Melissa Clark’s recipe verbatim because that is what Jill Clark used. However, I’ve told you before about www.pollenranch.com located in beautifully named Lemon Cove, California. Pollen Ranch are purveyors of hand-collected and wild-crafted spices including Organic Fennel Pollen. This wonderful stuff suffuses Porchetta with the intense flavor of Fennel, which is key to creating the dish’s unique flavor. I used it exclusively. Melissa and Jill Clark opted for fennel fronds and fennel seeds for their Porchetta. They accomplished the seasoning needed here and saved a lot of money. Fennel Pollen is hardly free…(9.95 for .5 oz.). Both Melissa and Jill had the all-essential skin cross-hatched by their butchers. I tried to have that done but my butcher was not so adept. Hence mine looks nothing like their neatly scored versions. But in terms of taste and the lovely crispy crunchy pork cracklings, both were winners. One further note: Melissa recommends making the herb paste the night before and leaving the coated roast in the fridge. Because I couldn’t get my hands on the pork until the day I was going to serve it, I started at 10 AM and served about 8 PM with no apparent loss of flavor. But I couldn’t help wonder if it would have been even more amazing if marinated overnight. The recipe follows after my soup talk.

I love making soup. It strikes me that it’s almost impossible not to make a good one. All it really takes is a meaty soup bone, some homemade or store bought stock and whatever vegetables your heart desires and you’re home. In cold weather, I love having a big pot of soup on the stove. I love tasting it frequently, adjusting the seasonings and the salt as I go along. I leave it simmering for hours only turning off the stove at night and then starting it up again in the morning. In the case of this particular soup, essentially Pork and Beans, I made a broth with the pork shoulder bone, then made a base with onions and carrots and celery. The beans went in with the broth and I added some home-canned tomatoes from last summer. As the pork broth simmered down, I put in a whole 32 oz. container of Chicken stock. And when it was finally time to serve the soup, I added some cooked vegetables –asparagus, carrots and mushrooms that I had in the fridge. I put some baby spinach leaves in the bottom of the soup bowls and poured over the soup. A grating of Parmesan, a couple of pieces of crusty bread and lunch was served. And I still have soup to keep serving for days and days of more Porchetta. Here are the recipes:

Recipe for Melissa Clark’s Porchetta

Serves 8 to 12. Active Time 4-5 hours, plus marinating at least 6 more hours.

1 (7- to 8-pound) bone-in, skin-on pork shoulder roast, or a 6- to 7-pound boneless roast, fat trimmed to 1/4-inch thickness

¼ cup chopped fennel fronds

¼ cup chopped fresh rosemary

2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage leaves

5 garlic cloves, grated or mashed to a paste

Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

1 ½ tablespoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon fennel seed

¾ teaspoon red pepper flakes

½ teaspoon black pepper

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

1.Score skin and fat all over pork, taking care not to cut down to the meat.

2. In a food processor or mortar and pestle, combine fennel fronds, rosemary, sage, garlic, lemon zest, salt, fennel seed, red pepper flakes and black pepper. Pour in oil. Pulse or mash until it forms a paste. Rub all over pork. If using a boneless roast, tie with kitchen string at 2-inch intervals.

3. Transfer to a large bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 6 hours and preferably overnight.

4. Remove pork from refrigerator 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 a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the meat reads 180 degrees, which will give you sliceable, tender meat. (Bone-in roasts will take longer than boneless ones.)

Transfer pork to a cutting board and let rest 15 to 30 minutes before serving. Make sure everyone gets some of the cracklings.

Recipe for Cannellini Vegetable Soup with Porchetta

Can be made in a hour and a half. Or take your time and make it one day and serve it the next. Makes lots of soup. You can vary the ingredients to your heart’s content.

Make the Broth:

1.For the broth, put reserved shoulder bone, half an onion, 1 carrot and 1 rib celery, each cut in half, in a saucepan. Add cold water to cover. Heat to a simmer; cook, 1 hour. Discard the bone and vegetables; strain the soup through a fine mesh strainer.

Make the Soup:

1. For the soup, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a Dutch oven; add 1 ½ onions, chopped, and 3-4 carrot, two stalks of celery, diced. Season with salt and red pepper flakes to taste. Cook until softened.

Add 2 cups shredded or cubed pork, 2 cups cooked white beans (or 2 cans, 19 ounces each, white beans, drained and rinsed) 2 14-oz. cans diced tomatoes and enough of the homemade broth to cover. Let the broth cook down then add 1 32 oz. container low sodium Chicken Stock or Broth. Cook at a low simmer until ready to serve.

2. Add any leftover vegetables, cut up, and heat the soup to serving temperature. Taste for seasoning.

3. Fill the bottom of soup bowls with baby spinach.

4. Pour vegetables and broth over the spinach. Garnish with grated Parmesan Cheese and serve with oven-warmed crusty French bread.

2 thoughts on “Two Clarks and Porchetta for Days: An unforgettable Pork Roast and a Cannellini Vegetable Soup from the leftovers.”

Martha Thomas says:

November 21, 2020 at 11:59 am

I bought the fennel pollen you recommended and will use that in place of the fennel fronds/fennel seeds in the MC recipe. Did you do an even swap and if not how much did you use? Thanks!

- Monte Mathews says:
  
  November 21, 2020 at 12:14 pm
  
  Dear Martha, Thanks so much for stopping by. Unfortunately, I am having a hard time remembering the proportions since it’s been quite a while since I cooked this dish. So I approached it backwards for you. I am going to attach the link but basically it says that 2 parts fennel seeds equals 1 part fennel pollen. Further down, fennel fronds were used as a substitute on a ratio of 2 to 1 as well. That would mean that you would use 1/8 cup fennel pollen or 2 tbsp. fennel pollen. I hope this helps. Here’s the link https://www.spiceography.com/fennel-pollen-substitute/. Happy Cooking!

Two Clarks and Porchetta for Days: An unforgettable Pork Roast and a Cannellini Vegetable Soup from the leftovers.

2 thoughts on “Two Clarks and Porchetta for Days: An unforgettable Pork Roast and a Cannellini Vegetable Soup from the leftovers.”

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