Get pork’d in the best way with this hands-off oven roast!
Hello friends! April here ready to get your tastebuds partying like it’s 1999 with this epic oven-baked pork leg and potatoes meal. I know roasting a massive cut of meat seems intimidating but I’m here with an easy-peasy method that’ll have your home smelling like the food court at the mall.
With the Christmas season knocking at the door, I figured I ought to share this lazy dish that you can serve without a lot of steps. We all need lazy dishes that don’t involve deep frying a small country or lugging around 6 kilos of meat, right? Well, say goodbye to complicated crock pots and multi-step recipes where you gotta babysit the stove for six hours. This recipe lets the oven do all the heavy lifting so you can kick back with some Netflix while waiting.
The process is simple – rub that pork leg with mayonnaise or mustard -you won’t taste this, I promise! Season it up with herbs, salt, and pepper, pop it in the oven with some spice-rubbed potatoes, then set a 3-hour timer at 350F and forget about it till ready to serve. No basting, no rotating, nada. Just good old-fashioned set-it-and-forget-it cooking. The meat self-bastes in its own glorious juices as it slowly roasts to fall-off-the-bone tender.
I got a 1 kl pork legs here on the island for a song. Usually, it’s hard to find small cuts like this outside the city but the market came through me. Nothing but the finest grass-fed porkers roaming free range in Marinduque, snatched from the backyard farms and slow-roasted to perfection in my oven.
Next, what’s a pork roast without crispy root veggies? I like to quarter baby potatoes and toss ’em with some butter, salt, and rosemary then add them to the roasting pan. Carrots would be a bomb too if you’re feeling feisty. The potatoes soak up all the porky pan drippings and spice as they caramelize to crunchy on the outside, creamy on the inside goodness. You’ll be scraping those potatoes off the pan like your life depends on it, I promise.
Best part is after you pop it in the oven, you are HOME FREE mommies! Just kick back, pour yourself an ice-cold San Mig, and let the oven do its thang. Dinner literally cooks itself so you’ve got time to catch up on your K-dramas or gossip with your Tita friends. When the internal temp hits 195°F, it’s porkegasm time ladies!
Then just slice that gorgeous pork leg roast up and serve family-style with the spice rubbed roasted potatoes. Garnish with extra fresh herbs if you like to get bougie. Trust, one bite and everyone will be oinking for more!
This recipe makes plenty for leftovers all week long. Just reheat individual portions for a quick weekday meal. Invite the neighbors cause there will be gnawing bones left when you’re done. Pork leg and potatoes: the forever dynamic duo.
Oven Roasted Pork Leg and Potatoes
Serves: 6 people (or one very hungry girl like me!)
Ingredients:
- 1 bone-in pork leg or knuckle
- 1cup mayonnaise or mustard
- 2 tbsp dried rosemary
- 2 tbsp dried thyme
- 1 tbsp crushed red pepper (optional, for heat lovers)
- 2 cloves crushed garlic
- Zest from 1 lemon
- Salt and pepper
- 1/2 kl potatoes, diced into 1-inch cubes
- 3 tbsp butter, melted
- Bay leaves, fresh herbs of choice
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350°F and pat pork dry with paper towels. Rub with mayonnaise. Combine rosemary, thyme, crushed red pepper, garlic and lemon zest in a small bowl. Rub herb mix all over pork. Generously season with salt and pepper.
- Toss potatoes with melted butter and season well. Place potatoes on one side of a roasting pan and place pork on the other side. Tuck bay leaves , garlic, and extra herbs around pork.
- Roast for about 3 hours, until meat is insanely tender and registers 195°F internally. Baste pork every hour with pan drippings if desired (but really not necessary).
- Remove from oven when done. Let pork rest 20 mins before slicing. Serve pork and potatoes family-style from the roasting pan for maximum flavor. Dig in!
PS, if you wanna shorten that time for baking and are willing to make an extra step, put that whole pork in a pressure cooker with some aromatics and pressure cook for 45 minutes!
That’s it my friends! Vesy easy just like I promised. Let me know if you decide to give this one a whirl and don’t forget to tag #RelaxLangMom if you Instagram those roasted pork legs. Happy eating!
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Love and pork legs,
April
#EasyBake #PorkHeaven #ovenbaked #porkleg #homecookedmeal
