Wild pork roast

My Dad went on a hunting trip to the South Island recently. On his way back through Wellington he stopped to drop off some wild pork. Lucky me!

My poor, poor freezer though! I had to resort to carefully stacking everything in until there wasn't a speck of space left, and then quickly slamming the door shut to hold everything in there. This worked well until my partner opened the door to get something out, only to have half the contents of the freezer collapse on him. Oops. (Of course, it was his fault for opening the freezer - what was he thinking? He he).

Anyway, a giant leg roast was taking up the most room, so it had to go. And by go, I mean it was time for dinner.

As with all wild meats, wild pork needs to be treated carefully. It generally has little fat on it, so you can easily wreck it by drying it out. You skin a wild pig, so wild pork does not have that protective layer of skin and fat that supermarket pork has.

I made my roast a nice little bed of veges to sit on - apples, yams and garlic as well as some rosemary, salt and pepper.

Into the tray I poured some wine, water and pineapple juice. All of these things I thought would give the pork a lovely flavour and tenderness.

I covered this tightly with tinfoil and put it into a really hot oven (250 degrees) and immediately turned it down to 150 degrees for about three and a half hours.

Now, I was so excited about how my roast turned out, that I forgot to take photos! Mind you, as delicious as it was, it just looked like a big hunk of cooked meat, so you're not missing out on too much!

As I carved the meat, I spooned over some of the juices left over in the pan - this helps to ensure it stays lovely and tender as you serve it.

There are only two of us to feed, and despite me piling our plates high - pork is such a treat as I rarely buy supermarket pork (and only ever free-range) - we had a lot left over. So, I thought I would share my ideas for the leftovers.

On the first night of leftovers we had pork fried noodles with Chinese-inspired flavours - I used a marinade of sesame oil, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, chilli, rice wine vinegar, worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. (As an aside, worcestershire is the most ridiculously hard word to spell!! Not to mention that you don't pronounce it anything like it looks, but don't get me started on that one).

I quickly stir-fried some carrot, broccoli and mushrooms, and added the pork as it only needed to be heated through. Some more sauce plus the cooked rice noodles, and dinner was done!

The next night we had tacos - this time I didn't flavour the pork directly, but added a delicious chilli salsa to the pork and salad on the tacos. The meat was still so tender and delicious, yum, yum, yum.

There was even enough left over for lunch the next day!

So, thanks very much Dad!!!

Lamb shanks

I don't often buy lamb. It's fair to say I'm a bit of a lamb snob. I'll admit it.

I'm a farm girl - I grew up helping Dad kill and butcher our own sheep. I unknowingly became accustomed to eating the best lamb, and I find that supermarket lamb just does not cut it. It's not as tender, it's not as tasty, it does not look as good (I'm often skeptical whether "lamb" in the supermarket is actually lamb).

Whenever I go home my Dad makes sure I head back with a suitcase full of delicious homegrown and home killed lamb. (Fitting it in my miniature freezer is always a challenge but I have found that, where there is a will, there is a way).

The other day I had a real treat - lamb shanks. Yum.

I wanted to try something different, so I asked Google for some ideas. I found this recipe from Jax Hamilton (of MasterChef fame).

Naturally I changed it a bit, so here's my adaptation of the recipe, and what I did.

2 lamb shanks
Flour for dusting, seasoned with salt and pepper
1 T olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
4 springs of rosemary, picked, chopped
160ml red wine
120ml balsamic vinegar
2 T brown sugar
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 180C. Dust the lamb shanks with the seasoned flour.

Fry the lamb shanks in the olive oil until they are well browned. Remove and add the garlic and rosemary for a couple of minutes.

Put everything into a casserole dish. Cover with a lid or tinfoil.

Cook for about one and a half hours. Check the lamb shanks - they should be falling off the bone and beautifully tender.


I served my shanks with mashed carrot and pumpkin, peas and blanched spinach. (I love lamb and spinach, I think they are such great friends).

It's fair to say, the result was delicious. The right balance of sweet and savoury. Meaty and tasty. Everything you want out of a winter time meal. Topped off with a hearty glass of red wine, it was wonderful.