With the festive season upon us many of us will be hosting a dinner with family.
Why not treat your family to this mouth watering slow roast pork belly.
This meal should cater to eight people.
Preparation time: 20 minutes.
Cooking time: 2h 30 minutes.
You will need:
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2.5kg pork belly
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Maldon sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
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1 Tbs of fennel seeds
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2 onions, roughly chopped
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2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
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1 stick of celery, roughly chopped
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1 leek, roughly chopped
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4 cloves garlic, skin on, bruised
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5g of fresh thyme
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2 Tbs of flour
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375ml of dry white wine, verjuice or chicken stock
What you do next:
Preheat your oven to the highest setting (230°/240°C)
Place pork belly onto a clean chopping board and using a sharp knife score skin in strips about 1 cm apart.
Place pork, belly side up, in a roasting tray and pat skin dry using some kitchen paper towel.
Season the meat as well as the skin liberally with salt and pepper, and insert fennel seeds right into all the scores.
Roast in oven for about 25-30 minutes or until the skin has turned to crackling (dhould be golden brown and crisp).
Reduce heat to 160°C and continue to roast pork for 1 hour.
Remove from oven and place all vegetables (onions, carrots, celery, leeks, garlic and thyme) under the pork.
Roast for a further hour or until meat is soft and pulls apart easily.
Remove from oven and transfer pork to a board, allowing it to rest for at least 15 minutes before carving.
Spoon away any fat from roasting tray and place directly onto the stove top.
Add flour and stir, scraping up all the sediment from bottom of tray, until a thick mushy paste is formed from all the vegetables.
Stir over moderate heat for 2 minutes to cook out the raw flour.
Add wine and bring to the simmer, stirring until a gravy is formed.
Season with salt and pepper.
Serving suggestions: serve pork with garlic creamed mashed potato and roasted root vegetables.
Recipe: Source Food.
