TESCO FINEST PORK - Josh Eggleton

Josh Eggleton serves up a feast of prime pork loin and three delicious sides that’s guaranteed to get everyone around the table

Get crackling: a family favourite

or Michelin-starred restaurateur Josh Eggleton, whether it’s meeting friends and family out or at home, food brings a special focus. “When my family gets together for lunch, everybody mucks in,” he says. “My sister might bring dessert, my dad might prep, and my brother and I will finish the dishes. And it’s like that in the restaurant business that me and my sister Holly started 15 years ago with The Pony & Trap.” Family gatherings often take place in their parents’ garden. “It’s good for the kids to play in, and we’ve planted a herb garden so we get lovage, sorrel, tomatoes, chive flowers and mint. They all go onto the restaurant menus. We also grow fennel, which I like to use in a fresh, crisp slaw with roast pork.” Tesco Finest crackling pork loin joint, from British outdoor-bred pigs, is perfect for a summer lunch with family and friends. Pork, says Josh, is a really versatile meat. “For me the loin, roasted whole, is the best way to eat it. You get a good amount of crackling on the outside and a nice even flavour.” And with that irresistible crunchiness in mind, the Tesco Finest joint is hand scored by expertly trained butchers for extra-crispy crackling. “Whole joints of pork rest really well. I would rest it for at least as long as I’ve cooked it (just don’t cover the crackling). Mix a bit of mustard and rapeseed oil into the juices and you’ve got a warm dressing with the flavour of the meat in it, which you can then spoon over the sliced pork.”

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Roast pork and crackling with fennel seed salt rub

Josh Eggleton

INGREDIENTS (SERVES 8-10)

• 1 x Tesco Finest crackling pork loin joint, around 2kg • 1 tsp vegetable oil • 1 tbsp sea salt flakes – I like Cornish sea salt • 1 tbsp fennel seeds

METHOD

The evening before, take the pork out of its packaging and leave it in the fridge overnight, uncovered. Take the joint out of the fridge for an hour before cooking, and preheat the oven to max. Crush the salt and fennel seeds together with a pestle and mortar (or use a saucepan and the end of a rolling pin). About 15 minutes before putting the joint in the oven, rub the crackling with the oil and massage in the fennel salt. Roast the joint on high for 25 minutes or until the crackling is looking blistered all over, then reduce the oven temperature to 180C and roast the pork for a further 40 minutes. Once it’s cooked (if you have a meat thermometer the core temperature should be 65C), let the joint rest, uncovered, for an hour and 20 minutes before you start carving. Next, pile the sliced pork onto a platter. Then strain and rewarm the pan juices to pour over the meat when it’s served.

New potato salad with English mustard and crème fraiche

Come together with Tesco Finest crackling pork loin joint this summer

Photography: HOWARD SHOOTER, ed schofield. FOOD Styling: DENISE SMART FOR BRIDGE STUDIO

For me the loin, roasted whole, is the best way to eat it – you get a good amount of crackling on the outside

Restaurateur

Scrub the potatoes very gently if they need it, retaining as much skin as possible. Simmer the potatoes in well-salted water until tender. Drain and let them cool to room temperature (but don’t refrigerate them). Cut the potatoes into one centimetre pieces. Mix together the mayo, crème fraiche, mustard, parsley and a good crack of black pepper. Gently combine the dressing with the potatoes and spring onions and finish with Cornish sea salt.

METHOD

• 1kg Tesco Cornish new potatoes •100ml good shop-bought mayonnaise • 100ml crème fraiche •1 tbsp English mustard from a jar • 30g parsley, chopped • Bunch spring onions, white parts sliced (save the greens for the fennel salad)

Josh’s recipe below uses fennel salt, but the joint works well with many flavours. “You could chop hard herbs like marjoram, rosemary and thyme, blitz them into the salt and roast the pork on a bed of more herbs, or add other spicier seeds like cumin or fresh chilli,” he says. Serve the meat with a salad of Tesco Cornish new potatoes with English mustard and crème fraîche, and a fennel slaw. “Slice the pork into discs so that each plate gets an even share of crackling, because everybody argues over it.” This is a busy summer for Josh as The Pony & Trap reopens as The Pony Chew Valley. But it all comes back to food and family at the end of the day. From peeling the veg to tucking in, food is, above all, about collaboration. “It’s good to get around the table and appreciate food. Just sitting together and taking time to digest the day is really important.”

INGREDIENTS (SERVES 8-10)

Fennel slaw

INGREDIENTS (SERVES 8-10)

Mix the fennel (apart from the tops), cabbage and onion together, then add the sea salt flakes, toss and set aside for ten minutes. Don’t drain the mixture – the juices will form part of the dressing. Add the oil, lemon juice and a crack of black pepper, toss, then mix through the spring onion greens and fennel tops.

METHOD

• 2 heads of fennel, cored and shredded – if your fennel still has its green top attached, chop and reserve this • 300g white cabbage, shredded, cored and shredded • 1 large Spanish onion, shredded • 1 heaped tsp sea salt flakes • 50ml British rapeseed oil • 1 lemon, juiced • Spring onion greens, chopped (from the potato salad recipe)

Green gem and radishes with Parmesan cream

INGREDIENTS (SERVES 8-10)

Mix the ingredients for the dressing together and spread across the base of a shallow serving bowl or platter with the back of a spoon. Arrange the lettuce wedges and radishes on top of the dressing. Guests can serve themselves from the platter, dragging the lettuce and radishes through the dressing.

METHOD

• 150ml salad cream • 2 banana shallots, finely diced • 30g chives, finely chopped • 2 whole pickled gherkins, drained and chopped • 2 tbsp drained capers, chopped • 100g aged Parmesan, finely grated

FOR THE DRESSING

FOR THE SALAD

• 3 heads of little gem lettuce, each cut into 6 wedges • 10-15 breakfast radishes, with their green tops if possible, halved

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•Tesco Finest crackling pork loin joint, around 2kg •1 tsp vegetable oil •1 tbsp sea salt flakes – I like Cornish sea salt •1 tbsp fennel seeds

•1kg Tesco Cornish new potatoes •100ml good shop-bought mayonnaise •100ml crème fraiche •1 tbsp English mustard from a jar •30g parsley, chopped •Bunch spring onions, white parts sliced (save the greens for the fennel salad)

• 2 heads of fennel, cored and shredded – if your fennel still has its green top attached, chop and reserve this •300g white cabbage, shredded, cored and shredded •1 large Spanish onion, shredded •1 tsp (heaped) sea salt flakes •50ml British rapeseed oil •1 lemon, juiced •Spring onion greens, chopped (from the potato salad recipe)

Come together with Tesco Finest crackling pork loin joint this summer

Leaving the pork in the fridge overnight will help the crackling dry out and really crisp up. If you have fennel salt left over, it’ll keep in a jar in the fridge.

• 1 x Tesco Finest crackling pork loin joint, around 2kg • 1 tsp vegetable oil • 1 tbsp sea salt flakes – I like Cornish sea salt • 1 tbsp fennel seeds

This is a really quick potato salad. If your new potatoes need a wash, just give them the lightest of scrubs. I always like to keep as much skin on as possible because that’s where the minerals are and that’s where you get loads of flavour. For even more flavour, I add seaweed to the cooking water.

This is a lighter, fresher slaw, which works with the creamy dressings in the other two sides. Shred the vegetables as thin as you can get them, either by hand or using the fine slicing blade on a food processor.

This salad is almost a British take on a Caesar salad with a really moreish dressing. In the restaurant, we’d make our own salad cream – but at home, I’m definitely not making it!

• 3 heads of little gem lettuce, each cut into 6 wedges • 10-15 breakfast radishes, with their green tops if possible, halved

Leaving the pork in the fridge overnight will help the crackling dry out and really crisp up. If you have fennel salt left over, it’ll keep in a jar in the fridge.

This salad is almost a British take on a Caesar salad with a really moreish dressing. In the restaurant, we’d make our own salad cream – but at home, I’m definitely not making it!