Pine Nut, Orange and Fennel Porchetta with Saffron Milanese and Nduja Butter

This is a rich dinner which would be perfect for a dinner party or comforting Sunday meal. The crispy pork crackling with soft pork flesh stuffed with plenty of herbs, orange and garlic is so easy to do and so delicious. Paired with a creamy buttery risotto full of plenty of salty, nutty parmesan and the slight hint of floral saffron goes so well and some spicy nduja butter brings it all together. 

(Serves 6 - £3.58 per serving)

1. Gently toast 100g pine nuts in a frying pan with 2 tsp fennel seeds until toasted and smelling fragrant.  2. Finely chop half a bunch of sage with some rosemary and thyme. Place a 1.5kg piece of boneless pork belly with the skin on and scored on a chopping board. Rub the herbs over the pork with the grated zest of an orange, 3 crushed cloves of garlic, the pine nuts and fennel seeds, some seasoning and drizzling of olive oil. 3. Massage this into the meat before rolling it up lengthways and tying it securely with several pieces of string. 4. If you have time, leave it uncovered on a plate in the fridge overnight to dry out the skin as much as possible. 5. The next day, generously sprinkle over some sea salt flakes and place on a bed of some roughly chopped fennel bulbs, a couple of onions, some garlic cloves and more herbs in a roasting tin. Add a splash of white wine and roast in the oven at 200C fan for 15-20 minutes until the skin starts to crisp and puff up. Cover with foil then turn the oven down to 130C and slow cook for 2 hours. 6. After two hours, take off the foil and turn the oven back up to 200C to get the skin lovely and crispy. Cover the pork loosely with foil and leave to rest while you get on with the risotto. 7. Fry some nduja with a knob of butter in a small pan and slice the pork. 8. Spoon the risotto into bowls, top with the roasted veg pork slices and drizzle over the nduja butter and some dill sprigs.

For the risotto, fry a finely chopped onion over a medium heat in 1 tbsp oil until softened. Chop some of the roasted garlic from the pork and add this to the onion. Add 300g risotto rice and stir until the grains start to go translucent at the edges. Add 150ml white wine and reduce until almost no liquid remains before adding a ladleful of hot chicken stock at a time until the rice is cooked but still has some bite to it. Add a pinch of saffron and stir through before adding a generous amount of butter and plenty of grated parmesan (and I mean plenty). Taste and season well.