The most festive days of the year are quickly approaching and with them all the possibilities to surprise and delight your loved ones: Christmas, New Year’s, Epiphany,… Luncheons and dinners that gather family and friends together to celebrate extraordinary meals.
We do of course know that a good Ibérico Ham, in any of its varieties, is never missing, as is the case with Ibérico Loin and quite often with Acorn Fed Ibérico cured dry sausages. This year however at Sierra de Codex we wish to propose something different and we want your imagination to get away from you and discover recipes with the freshest of Ibérico pork that will undoubtedly surprise all your guests.
The first of them to whet your appetite is the Stuffed Christmas Crown Roast. A spectacular cut of meat that Sierra de Codex only provides under order (if you wish to enjoy a crown roast, all you have to do is contact us or send us a message via FB Messenger and we will get it all ready for you).
The Crown Roast is prepared in two stages. First of all you start with the «end point of the rib bones» looking downwards and then the second stage follows with the points looking up and with the stuffing slowly roasting smack in the middle of the crown roast. We will leave the amounts and ingredients of the stuffing up to you, as the size of the roast may vary and many elements can be easily substituted with others. The only important rule with the stuffing is that it should overflow from the meat so that it can be clearly seen between the ribs.
0- First of all preheat the oven at 190 °C. Meanwhile you can start cooking by adding salt and pepper to the meat.
1st. Protect the top of each bone with aluminum foil so that they will not be blackened during the roasting.
2nd. First roasting stage: Roast the crown in the oven for two hours. Place it on a rack with the tips of the bones looking downwards. Meanwhile you can get on with the stuffing, whichever which way you like. Here below we will offer our Christmas flavor packed suggestion.
FOR THE CHRISTMAS STUFFING:
Soak a bunch of dried apricots, raisins and dried plums in a bowl with warm water. Once they are partially rehydrated, chop the apricots and plums into one centimeter pieces and mix them up in a bowl with the raisins and a touch of fresh grated ginger and 100 g of sugar.
Melt some Ibérico pork lard in a frying pan at medium-low heat. Add the minced garlic and finely chopped onion and sauté until it is transparent. When transparent add a few sprigs of rosemary and take the frying pan off the heat. Add the rehydrated fruits and the sugar. Add a bit of salt, black pepper, freshly grated nutmeg, 40 g of bread cubes, 1 egg, an apple and some apple juice. Blend it all until you have an adequate texture, which should be rather rough with whole pieces of apple, apricots, raisins and so on, making sure that the stuffing is not too mashed up and stodgy. (The mixture should not be uniform like a dough, nor should it be liquid).
3rd. Second roasting stage. Turn the crown roast over and place it directly on the oven tray. Fill up the center of the crown roast with the stuffing you have prepared. If you have a meat thermometer to check the temperature of the meat, place it in the thickest part, as the rib temperature is not as accurate. Once the thicker part of the roast reaches 80 ºC, the roast is ready to go. If you do not have a thermometer, leave the meat in the oven for another 90 minutes.
If you find that the stuffing is cooking to fast, cover it up with aluminum foil so that the surface does not burn.
4th. Take the roast out of the oven. Let it rest for at least 15 minutes before carving and serving.
5th. Plating: Carve the meat by cutting through the space between the ribs and removing the protective aluminum foil from the end of the ribs. Serve the ribs directly on a plate with a base of stuffing and decorate around the ribs with colorful elements of your choice (carrots, collard greens, Brussels sprouts, asparagus,…).
Of course these stuffing ingredients are merely a suggestion, as you can improvise and substitute or add any elements you wish. Dried blueberries, mango,…let your imagination run free and you will indeed achieve the most unique of results.
Also, as of now we will also be awaiting your recipes. Send us an email or contact with us through Facebook and we will be very pleased to add your recipe to this article.
