Roast pork rack with spiced apple sauce and apple-Brussels sprout salad

All about the crackling? This one absolutely delivers.

📝 Ingredients

• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 tbsp finely chopped thyme, plus
• 1 tsp extra for pan-gravy
• Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
• 80 ml (1/3 cup) olive oil
• 1 pork rack (about 2.4kg with 8 cutlets), skin scored
• 2 onions, thickly sliced
• 1 head of garlic, halved horizontally
• 150 ml white wine
• 500 ml (2 cups) chicken stock
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• Roast potatoes with rosemary, to serve
• Spiced apple sauce
• 310 ml each white wine and white wine vinegar
• 275 gm caster sugar
• 2 each cinnamon quills, star anise and bruised cardamom pods
• 2 each sprigs thyme and bay leaves
• 4 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, coarsely chopped
• Apple-Brussels sprout salad
• 80 ml (1/3 cup) extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 tbsp Sherry vinegar
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• Finely grated zest of 1/2 lemon, plus 2 tsp juice
• 300 gm Brussels sprouts, thinly sliced on a mandolin
• 2 golden shallots, thinly sliced on a mandolin
• 3 small pink lady apples, thinly sliced on a mandolin
• 1 cup each (loosely packed) parsley and mint

👨‍🍳 Instructions

1. 11: Combine garlic, thyme, lemon zest and half of the olive oil in a bowl and season generously with pepper. Rub marinade into flesh of pork, then place, skin-side up, on a tray lined with baking paper. Refrigerate, uncovered, to dry out skin (1-2 days).
2. 22: For spiced apple sauce, combine ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a simmer over high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer until apples are tender (7-8 minutes). Cool in liquid and refrigerate overnight to pickle. Next day, drain apples (discard pickling liquid, herbs and spices). Transfer apples to a high-speed blender and blend until smooth. Refrigerate until required. Spiced apple sauce will keep refrigerated for 2 months.
3. 33: Bring pork rack to room temperature (2 hours). Using a Stanley knife, score skin at 3mm intervals (see note). Rub remaining oil and 1 tbsp fine sea salt into cuts.
4. 44: Preheat oven to 230°C fan-forced. Place onions and garlic in the base of a large deep roasting pan and place pork, skin-side up, on top. Roast pork until crackling forms (35-45 minutes). Reduce oven to 140°C fan-forced; roast until internal temperature reaches 60°C on a meat thermometer (40-50 minutes). Remove pork rack from roasting pan and set aside to rest (20 minutes). Strain fat from pan. Squeeze garlic from its skin into pan. Place pan over medium-high heat. Deglaze with white wine and reduce by half (2-3 minutes). Add stock and cook until reduced to a gravy (10-12 minutes). Strain into a serving jug; whisk in mustard and remaining thyme.
5. 55: Meanwhile, for apple-Brussels sprout salad, whisk olive oil, vinegar, mustard, lemon zest and juice in a large bowl and season to taste. Add remaining ingredients and gently toss to dress.
6. 66: Arrange pork on a large serving platter with roast potatoes. Serve with spiced apple sauce and apple-Brussels sprout salad on the side.