Roast pork with soy roasted pumpkin

Hello everyone, today I took my nieces to see Artexpress for the second year running. I remember that last year they just walked from art work to art work wide eyed, completely overwhelmed by it all. This year they interacted with it a lot more, darting off to various pieces that caught their attention, analysing some of them, completely ignoring others, and making lots of comments. Last year when I suggested we all nominate our favourite piece they politely said they couldn't choose (which I interpreted as code for "no idea what any of this is about"), but this year they were very quick to make up their minds and give reasons. It was fun! Then we took ourselves off to Woo-mi, a very good sushi train in Mosman, where they put away more sushi than I thought was possible. I guess a good balance for all the Easter eggs to come!

This week's recipe is for a luscious roast pork which I cooked last week, out of my Marie Claire Comfort book (it's such a beautiful book). The butcher very kindly cut a smaller piece for me so I roasted it for dinner and then had some for sandwiches during the week. Just enough. It is the easiest thing in the world to do - you literally put everything in the oven and go away and let it cook itself. It will fill the house with a beautiful aroma as it cooks and provide comfort on these rapidly cooling autumn evenings.

Have a happy Easter! Love from Jane xx

Roast pork with soy roasted pumpkin

Serves 6

What you need:

• 1.5kg piece of pork shoulder (ask your butcher to score the skin)
• 4 sage leaves
• 1 kg kent or jap pumpkin
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 red chilli, seeded and finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder

What you do:

1. Preheat the oven to 220C.
2. Pat the pork dry with paper towels (very important to get the crackling nice and crisp) and rub the scored skin with a generous amount of salt. Season with freshly ground pepper.
3. Scatter the sage leaves over the base of a roasting tin, then place the pork on them, skin side up.
4. Cook the pork for 25 minutes, then reduce the heat to 180C and cook for a further hour.
5. While the pork is cooking, peel the pumpkin and cut into small chunks.
6. Place the chunks in a large bowl and add the oil, soy sauce, chilli and five spice.
7. Toss well, then transfer to a baking tray and add to the oven 30 minutes before the pork is due to finish cooking. By then the pumpkin should be cooked and golden.
8. Remove the pork from the oven and reduce the heat to low to keep the pumpkin warm.
9. Test if the meat is done by inserting a sharp knife into the centre - the juices should run clear. Transfer the pork to a warm serving platter and rest, covered with foil, for 15 minutes.
10. Carve the pork and serve with the pumpkin.