Ingredients

whole pork shoulder (remove skin)
1 handful of rosemary
½ handful of sage
4 garlic cloves
salt and peper
3 onions
2 carrots
2 celery stems
olive oil
2 glasses of prosecco
3 bay leaves
4 crushed juniper berries
1 clove

FOR THE PEPERONATA
5 peppers
2 red onion
200g tomato passata
2 garlic cloves, chopped
10 basil leaves, plus some for decoration
1 handful pinenuts
1 handful capers

FOR THE FENNEL SALAD
2 fennel bulbs
1 lemon, zest and juice

Method

1 Fillet, then spread out the pork shoulder. Finely chop the herbs and garlic, and spread over the meat. Season and roll, then tie up and secure with cooking string. Pre-heat the oven to 220°C, give the meat a good massage with olive oil and cook on a tray for 10 minutes or until it becomes golden brown (turning when needed).

2Add chopped onion, carrot and celery with a splash of olive oil to the tray and cook for 5 more minutes.

3Finally add the prosecco, bay leaves, juniper berries and clove, cover partially with a foil sheet (leaving enough for the steam to escape so the meat doesn’t boil) cook for about 4 hours at 150°C. Check after 30 minutes and add water if necessary.

4Remove the foil and give a final roasting at 200°C, turning to brown both sides.

5Let the meat rest for at least 15 minutes. 

6To prepare the sauce, reduce the liquid left in the baking tray and strain.

7To prepare the peperonata, wash and cut the peppers into cubes, peel and slice the red onion, and cook the garlic and onions with olive oil in a pan until golden. Add the peppers, season with salt and pepper and cook for 2 more minutes. Add the tomato passata and the fresh basil, and cook until reduced and the peppers are tender. To finish, add the pinenuts, capers and some more fresh basil leaves.

8TO SERVE: Cut the string off the meat and serve with the hot peperonata and a salad of sliced fennel seasoned with olive oil, lemon zest and juice, salt and pepper.

Wine Match

2019 Poderi Colla Nebbiolo d’Alba DOC, Piedmont, Italy, A$58

Pork is a rich meat with an all important (and flavoursome) layer of fat. The fennel salad acts as an offset with its aniseed spice but the marinated capsicum adds its own richness to the recipe. A light-weight red is the obvious choice but one where acid and tannin play an equal role. Enter a varietal nebbiolo – not a super charged version like a barolo or barbaresco. The Poderi Colla is perfect with its floral notes and tarry tannins that gobble up the potent pork.