Porchetta with pumpkin mash and salsa verde

Ingredients

• 4kg pork belly boneless
• 5 cloves of garlic
• 150g fresh rosemary
• 10g fennel seeds
• Black pepper and salt
• 2kg cavolo nero
• 10g fresh ginger
• 50g butter

For the pumpkin mash

• 3kg Delica pumpkin
• 1kg potatoes for mash
• 50g fresh sage
• 100g butter
• Nutmeg

For the salsa verde

• 600g parsley leaves
• 200ml extra virgin olive oil
• 50g Cantabrian anchovies
• 20g lilliput capers
• 100g fresh cucumber
• 60g gherkins
• 100g green apple
• 100g French green beans
• 50g chives
• 100g egg white
• 150g bread (no crust)
• 100ml white wine vinegar

Method

The mash

1. Halve the pumpkins, season with salt and pepper, and roast in the oven at 170° until fully cooked. Remove the pulp from the skin, transfer on a muslin cloth and leave overnight hanging in the fridge to drain the excess water as much as possible.
2. The following day, boil the potatoes and mash them. Add to the pumpkin puree and mix. Melt the butter with the sage leaves and cook until a light brown colour. Add to the mash, season with salt and freshly ground nutmeg.

The porchetta

1. Butterfly the pork belly and season with salt and pepper. Finely chop the rosemary and garlic, crash the fennel seeds and sprinkle all together on the pork belly. Roll the meat with the skin resulting on the outside. Tie tightly with the butcher twine
2. Cook in the steam oven for about 30 minutes, then set the oven at 120°C and cook for another 2 – 2 and a half hours. Reset the oven at steam-roast at 230°C, 40% humidity, and cook until the skin is puffed and crispy.

The salsa verde

1. Blanche the parsley leaves in boiling water and cool down immediately in iced water. Drain and squeeze as mush as possible. Transfer into a blender with the olive oil and blitz until very fine. Pass through a fine sieve or muslin cloth to separate the oil from the pulp, which will be discarded.
2. Dice at 3mm the cucumber, gherkins, French beans and apple. Chop the chives, anchovies and the cooked egg white.
3. Soak the bread in vinegar and squeeze very well. Mix with all the other ingredients and adjust with salt if needed.
4. Boil the cavolo nero in salted water and cool down in iced water.
5. In a sautepan melt the butter, add the cavolo nero, season with salt and grated ginger.
6. Slice the porchetta and serve next to the pumpkin mash and cavolo nero. Complete with a spoonful of salsa verde .