Cookies Preferences
I hope you'll read my blog about the taxi drivers of Beirut, in particular Mansour, who gifted me the leg of wild boar which inspired this recipe. Of course, this humble leg of boar took me down a whole twisty turning path of memories which is what food tends to do to me. Like I write in the post, my aim was to keep the boar true to the land it had roamed on. The spices and sauce are all inspired by the terra of the gorgeous Lebanese mountains. Of course I realize that wild boar is not something you can run down to your grocery and find easily, so please substitute a pork shoulder. All you'll be missing is that certain gaminess that wild meat has (and many don't like any way). I also think that my pickled kumquats are a delicious addition scattered around the pork when you serve it!
1 bone in leg of wild boar (or pork would do just fine)
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon red chili flakes
Pinch of allspice
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
Olive oil
1 ½ cups pomegranate juice
3 cups chicken broth
1 cup pomegranate molasses
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 bay leaves
2 cinnamon sticks
for the celery leaf and pomegranate gremolata:
½ cup celery leaves, roughly chopped
¼ cup pomegranate seeds
zest of one orange
2 cloves garlic, minced on microplane
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
pinch each of salt and pepper
The day before you want to cook the boar, mix together all of the spices and rub them into every nook and cranny of the leg. Let it sit in the fridge, covered in plastic wrap, overnight. Preheat your oven to 170/350 degrees. The next day heat a large pan on your stove and rub olive oil into the meat. Sear it all over until quite crusty and your kitchen is smoky. Mix together the remaining ingredients in your roasting pan, and then gently lay the leg in the mixture. Cover very tightly with aluminium foil and place in the oven for 1 hour. Remove and turn the boar leg over, reduce the heat to 150/300 degrees and cook an additional 3 hours, until the meat is falling from the bone.
While it's cooking prepare your gremolata by simply mixing all of the ingredients together in a small bowl.
Remove the leg from the pan and strain your sauce into a saucepan and try to remove as much grease from it as possible. Break the meat into chunks, top with a little sauce, and your gremolata.
