A grand roast like porchetta fits the grandeur of the holiday, with polenta and sautéed cabbage as sides that balance its richness with simplicity.
When having guests over for dinner, I enjoy cooking a big piece of meat surrounded by a few light sides to balance it all out. At Christmastime, I follow the same rule but with the volume turned proportionately up. You can go with a prime rib or roast loin of beef, sure, but the great thing about Christmas dinner, as opposed to Thanksgiving, is that there’s more variety in what you can make. You can truly serve anything you want, so go big.
I start by dry-brining pork belly with sugar and salt for a day to season it to its core. Then, I rub the belly with an herb paste spiked with chile flakes andof citrus zest. I keep the herbs classic — rosemary, sage and thyme — and add a warming, classic note of anise with fennel pollen and fennel fronds saved from the crudité platter. If you hate that flavor, both ingredients are optional. And if you don’t want to splurge on fennel pollen, ground fennel seeds make a great substitute.
Once the belly is rubbed with the herbs and spices, I roll it around a trimmed pork loin and tie it tight with kitchen twine. Most recipes for porchetta use the belly only, but I like to wrap it around a loin so guests who like leaner meat are satisfied too. The pork roll renders slowly in a low oven for a few hours before being roasted at high heat to crisp up the skin and turn it from tough and leathery to shatteringly crisp and audibly crunchy.
And with such an intensely flavorful, showy and, yes, expensive preparation of meat, I like to keep the sides very, very simple.is a classic dish with pork. I cook it simply with a branch of thyme infused into the cooking liquid and a little butter and grated Parmesan added at the end to enrich it just enough to keep it smooth and silky. Also with pork, I must have. I shred the red variety and sauté it over high heat so it’s lightly caramelized but still toothsome.
The whole affair should feel really special but also really cozy and warm. You’re not at a restaurant, you’re at home, so treat it like any other meal, except with a lot more flair. Pick off the porchetta’s crispy skin with your fingers and drag it through the polenta and encourage your guests to do the same. This is hearty home cooking that’s best enjoyed with elbows on the table and revelry to spare — which is exactly what the holiday is about.
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