Sunday Roast Pork with almost crackling

There is nothing quite like a roast. Feeling rather sorry for myself this morning I decided to make a roast. The pork looked lovely. Now for all the trimmings. Can't resist roasted apples and potatoes. Mum never taught me to make gravy so I had to teach myself. It was a delicious gravy. Fennel would have been delicious - but finding anything exotic such as fennel (not really exotic... but to K-town it is pretty special!) is impossible on a Sunday in Kalgoorlie. I am scared of roasting beef - the timing is crucial. To overcome this problem I choose meats that benefit from long slow cooking. Five hours later - meltingly delicious pork.

PICTURE TO COME TOMORROW.... !

1 leg of pork, bone in, skin removed

Fennel seeds

1 carrot, roughly chopped

2 stalks of celery, roughly chopped

1 onion, roughly chopped

Apples, chopped into 8 wedges

Potatoes, chopped into wedges

Rub the pork with salt, pepper, olive oil and plenty of fennel seeds. Place the vegies in a baking dish large enough to have them in one layer. Place the pork on top. Pour around enough water to a depth of 1-2cm. Place the pork into the oven and switch on to 140C (fan forced). Roast for 4-5 hours, or until very tender. Keep a 1-2cm layer of water in the dish at all times to stop the vegies from burning - these will be the basis of your gravy.

An hour before serving, in a separate baking dish mix the apples, potatoes, salt pepper and olive oil. Place in the oven. Stir occasionally.

About half an hour before serving, remove the pork from the oven (keep under alfoil to keep warm). Press the vegies through a sieve and reserve all the juice. Pour the oil layer into a small saucepan. Add about 1 tbsp of flour and cook for 1 min. Add remaining juice and water/stock to give the volume you want. Cook for about 3 mins to get rid of the flour taste. Season well with salt and pepper.

To get crackling you need to start with the oven really hot. Once the pork is out of the oven turn it up as high as it will go (250C! - remove the apples now too and keep warm, the potatoes can stay to get crispy but make sure you keep an eye on them). Score the pork skin with a stanley knife into strips. Pat the skin dry with paper towel. Rub the skin generously with salt. Place on a deep baking dish on the top shelf of the oven (ours was about 3cm from the top element). Cook like this until the skin has blistered and is crackling!

The best part of ours was definitely the little trotter that snuck in and was cooked next to the leg part - so delicious. The crackling could have had another 15 minutes to really get there... but Tim still loved it.