Hog in the limelight: Yotam Ottolenghi's pork recipes | Food (2024)

The regulations on what pigs themselves are allowed to be fed, however, are bafflingly inefficient and uneconomical. As Thomasina Miers explained in this magazine last month, the Pig Idea campaign wants the law to allow food waste (orswill) to be fed to our pigs, as it was before 2001, when the practice was banned due to foot and mouth disease outbreak. The horrors of such outbreaks cannot be underestimated, but preventative heat-treatment measures on food waste would effectively eliminate the spread of such pathogens again. The reasons for doing so are economical, environmental and nutritional: farmers spend huge amounts feeding animals cereals and soy-based crops (whose growth is forcing the clearing of the forests in the Amazon basin), while the food industry spends vast sums diverting its waste. It makes no sense at all.

Pork with ginger, spring onion and steamed aubergine

Serve with plain rice or noodles. Serves four.

60g raw peanuts
3 medium aubergines, cut into 3cmdice
Salt
60ml groundnut oil
2 bunches spring onions, trimmed and chopped on the diagonal into 3cm slices
60g peeled ginger, julienned
4 cloves garlic, peeled and thinlysliced
1 green chilli, finely sliced
500g pork mince
4 tbsp mirin
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp kecap manis
2 tsp sesame oil
2 tbsp rice vinegar
10g coriander, roughly chopped
1 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted

Put the aubergines in a large bowl with two teaspoons of salt. Mix well, then tip into a colander over the bowl and leave for two hours. Shake the colander to remove any excess liquid, pat the aubergine dry in a tea towel and return to the colander.

Take a large saucepan for which you have a lid and fill with enough water to come 3cm up the sides. Bring to a boil, then place the colander in the pan, making sure the aubergine is not touching the water. Put the pan lid on the colander and cover with foil, to prevent the steam escaping. Lower the temperature to medium-high, steam for 10 minutes, then lift out the colander and set it aside somewhere warm.

Pour the remaining oil into the pan and add the pork mince. Fry for three minutes, stirring to break up the meat. Add the mirin, soy, kecap manis, sesame oil, rice vinegar and half a teaspoon of salt, cook for two minutes, then tip the spring onion and garlic mixture back into the pan. Cook for a minute more, then remove from the heat – there should be plenty of liquid in the pan – and stir through the coriander and peanuts.

Divide the warm aubergine between four shallow bowls, top with the pork mixture, sprinkle with the sesame seeds and serve.

Char-grilled pork loin with parsnip and roasted garlic

The best sort of tamarind paste is the one you make yourself by soaking ablock of seeds, but ready-made paste is widely available. Different brands vary greatly in sharpness, so try it before you add it, to gauge whether you need a little more or a little less than stipulated. Serves six.

Put the first nine ingredients in afood processor with two-thirds of the oil, three-quarters of a teaspoon of salt and a good grind of pepper, and blitz until smooth. Tip a quarter of this mix into a large bowl, add the pork, rub the marinade all over and refrigerate for at least three hours. Cover the remaining marinade and keep at room temperature.

Heat the oven to 200C/390F/gas mark 6. Slice 1cm off the top of each garlic head to reveal the cloves, and lay the heads cut side up on separate squares of foil. Sprinkle over a pinch of salt and a tablespoon of oil. Seal the foil, place the garlic parcels on a baking tray and roast for about 45 minutes, until soft and caramelised.

Put a large griddle pan on a high heat and ventilate your kitchen well. Scrape the marinade off the tenderloins and reserve. Sprinkle the meat with a quarter-teaspoon of salt, then griddle the loins for about five minutes in total, turning regularly. Transfer to a medium baking tray and pour over the scraped-off marinade. Roast for eight to 10 minutes, until cooked medium-well, then set aside somewhere warm.

With the griddle pan still on a high heat, char the parsnips for three minutes, turning halfway through, then transfer to a bowl. Squeeze the garlic cloves from their skins on to the parsnips, stir to combine and divide between four plates. Cut the pork into 1.5cm-thick medallions and serve alongside, spooning the reserved marinade on top.

Pork and bean stew

900g boneless pork shoulder, rolledand tied
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
75ml olive oil
1 small head garlic, cloves separated
6 sprigs rosemary
2 medium onions, roughly chopped
400g smoked bacon rashers, cutinto 1cm dice
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp sweet paprika
¼ tsp smoked paprika
300g dried cannellini beans, soaked in water overnight and drained
5 bay leaves
500ml chicken stock
3 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1cm dice
20g parsley, chopped

Heat the oven to 140C/285F/gas mark 1. Put the pork in a bowl and add three-quarters of ateaspoon of salt and some pepper. Pour over two tablespoons of oil and rub in. Push the garlic and two rosemary sprigs into the centre of the pork, and lay it in a high-sided oven tray. Cover with foil and roast for five hours, until falling apart. When cool enough to handle, discard any liquid and the string, and shred into 3-4cm pieces.

Put all the ingredients for the herb paste in the small bowl of a food processor and blitz to a rough paste.

• Yotam Ottolenghi is chef/patron of Ottolenghi and Nopi in London.

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