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Sorry for the time in between posts…it’s been a busy couple of weeks with birthdays, a trip to Illinois for a class reunion, catching a bad cold, etc.  With all of that in the rear view at this point, I can safely say that I will get back into the swing of things!  Porchetta is a rolled Italian pork roast that combines both the pork loin and the pork belly.  It’s super delicious with a moist, spicy interior that is surrounded by the crispy skin of the belly.  Tomorrow I will post another Italian dish…tomato sauce with Italian sausage and broccoli rabe.  Ok, so this one is a special occasion sort of main course that takes a couple days.  However, despite the time it takes, it’s actually pretty straight forward.  I purchased both the pork loin and the pork belly from John’s Italian meat market.  I happen to have butcher’s twine so I didn’t need any.  However, if you need some, just let the butcher know what you are making and he or she will certainly give you some to tie everything together.  I used a recipe (which can be found here) and modified it a bit to suit my taste.  I omitted the orange rind/slices and added more garlic and red pepper flakes.  I also added more salt (probably a couple tablespoons more).

I followed the roasting directions exactly except that I took mine out about 30 minutes prior to when they suggested as mine was looking done.  As it turned out, that was a good call as it was definitely done and probably would have tasted overdone had I let it continue.  Definitely allow the porchetta to rest for at least thirty minutes…an hour would probably be better.

I served the porchetta at room temperature along with some blanched vegetables as this is a rich, heavy dish.  I didn’t serve it with a sauce but a stock and wine reduction would certainly work if you’d like.