So how’s this for inspiration… Yesterday I was reading the Three Little Pigs to a couple of lovely children who I’m helping with their English over the summer. It wasn’t the first time I’d read it that week, so my mind was wandering to what I had to do later that day… I needed cat food and something for dinner. I’m saving my pennies so I was trying to remember what we already had in the fridge… Chorizo and Jamón Serrano sprung to mind… Two of the three little pigs… PING! I’d get a third pig and create something along the lines of a 3-Bird Roast!
What You Need
Pork – filleted and ready to stuff and roll
Jamón Serrano/Ibérico (Spanish Ham) – finely chopped
Chorizo – the large variety, finely sliced
Red Pepper – quartered and still with stalk and seeds
Green Pepper – same as red pepper
Beef Tomato – same as peppers
Onion – same as peppers
Garlic – bashed and still in its skin
Fresh Thyme
Fresh Basil (I used Baby Basil, but normal Basil would be fine)
Olive Oil
Fino (Dry Sherry)
Black Pepper to season
Roasting Pan
String
How You Do It
Pre-heat your oven to around 180ºc. I had mine on just the top oven with fan as I wanted them to blacken slightly.
Put the peppers, onion, tomato and garlic in the roasting dish with a good splash of olive oil and some black pepper, making sure to rub the olive oil into all the veggies. Whack it in the oven for about half an hour, moving and turning the veggies occasionally.
After about half an hour, add a splash of fino to the veggies and the sprig of thyme. Leave to cook for another 15 minutes.
Once the veggies are all cooked and soft and slightly blackened, removed them from the oven and put them on a plate or board to cool. Keep the roasting pan with all the juices but dispose of the thyme.
Whilst the veggies cool, tear up the basil and put it in a bowl with the jamón.
When the veggies are cool enough to handle, de-seed the peppers and remove all the stalks. Peel the onion and garlic. Finely chop all the veggies and add them to the bowl with the basil and jamón, mixing it all together.
Roll out and dry off your pork, then spread the veggie/jamón/basil mix evenly over the length of it. Tightly roll the piece of pork with all the veggies inside and layer the chorizo on top. Use the string to tie it all together. (There is an art to this which I am yet to master, as you will see in the photo! In fact, I didn’t even have string so I improvised and used cord off an old blind! 🙂 )
Place the Three Little Pigs back in the roasting dish, surrounding it with any veggie stuffing that has not been used or fallen out during rolling. Cover with foil and return to the oven. (I had 500g of pork and I cooked it at 180ºc in a fan oven for 30 about minutes). Towards the end of the cooking time, remove the foil and allow the chorizo to crisp up.
Put the Three Little Pigs on a board to rest for 10 minutes or so prior to removing the string and carving then serve!
I hope you enjoy this as much as we did!
PotLook 