Mum's Famous Roast Pork

Ok, so it's only famous at my house.

But who doesn't love a roast dinner? And it's so easy to make, just bung your meat in the oven for a couple of hours or so, add roasties for the last hour, and cook your other veg and make your gravy in the 20 minutes before serving.

Start with either a boneless pork shoulder, leg or loin (depending on your preference and what's available at the cheapest price in your local butchers or supermarket). I like shoulder, because it's cheap, tasty and comes with lots of lovely crackling!

Put the joint on a rack in a roasting dish. Don't worry if you don't have a rack, you can improvise with a couple of potatoes or onions, each cut in half to make four "legs" to stand your joint on (they are great for adding to soup or casserole stock on another day, unless somebody snaffles them on roast day!).

Slash the skin of the joint with the sharp knife ( this may already have been done by the butcher). Drizzle some oil over the skin and sprinkle with coarse sea salt. If we have had a big breakfast (which we often do on a Sunday, along with a roast dinner, later in the day) then I'll spread some of the bacon fat that dripped from the grill onto the pork skin, instead of oil.

Add 500ml of water to the dish. This keeps the joint moist, and captures the meat juices so you can use them to make the gravy. I like to add a few sticks of celery to braise in the meat stock while the joint is cooking. You can serve the celery as a side vegetable, or they can be used in the soup you make with the onions and potatoes.

Cook the joint for 25 minutes per 500g (if you bought it from the supermarket, the weight will be conveniently marked on the wrapping. Otherwise, you'll have to weigh it). Put the oven at 200C for the first 20 minutes, and reduce to 180C for the rest of the cooking time. If you have a fancy oven, it may have a special setting for roast meats - check your manual and experiment.

Once you have worked out when your joint will be cooked by, you can work out the time to put your potatoes and other veg (eg parsnips, sweet potato, onion quarters, garlic cloves etc) in the oven to roast. Toss them in a roasting tin with some oil and a sprinkle of salt, and put in the oven an hour before finish time.

While the joint is cooking, prepare any other veg (eg broccoli, beans, carrots, etc) ready for steaming.

After the calculated cooking time, pull the joint out of the oven and poke the centre of it with a skewer or thin knife. If the juices are pink, bung it back in the oven for another 15 minutes, and then test again. Once any juices that run out are clear, and you're satisfied it's cooked (no juices mean it's overdone), set the joint in a warm place, covered with foil, and leave to rest while you cook the veg.

This is a good time to check the roast veg - if they look done, turn the oven down to 80C to keep warm.

Steam or cook the veg while you make the gravy. Pour the stock that has formed under the joint into a small pan. If you're satisfied the meat juices are tasty enough as they are, you can simply season the stock with salt and pepper, bring it to the boil, and thicken with some flour or cornflour. Otherwise, add a shake of pepper and some gravy granules. Bring to the boil, stirring well.

Carve the meat and serve with the veg and gravy. Fight over the crackling. Enjoy.