Roast Belly Pork

This recipe is great for a weekend meal or a dinner party (though check your guests aren’t prevented from eating pork for religious reasons).  The preparation takes a few minutes and the pork can then cook away quietly on its own while the rest of the meal is prepared, the house tidied, or you have a long hot soak in the bath!

It is based on an Ottolenghi recipe, though I vary the cooking method slightly.

Ask the butcher to score the pork rind for you (i.e. make long incisions through the skin to the layer of fat below). This will help the skin to crisp up and form delicious (though sinfully calorific) crackling.  The butcher always asks if I want the bones removed but I leave them in as I think the flavour is better.  The meat will easily come off the bones at the end of the cooking time.

1. Take the pork out of the fridge and bring it up to room temperature.  Preheat the oven to 250˚C or 240˚C Fan.
2. Remove the rosemary needles and roughly chop these.  Add these to the bowl of a small food processor with the thyme leaves, crushed garlic and rapeseed or olive oil and blend them together. If you don’t have a food processor, fear not, just chop everything finely with a knife and put them all into a small bowl and whisk together until combined.
   
3. Put the pork into an oven tray, skin side down.  Pour the herby oil over the top and sides (but avoiding the skin as you want this nice and dry for the crackling) and massage it into the meat with your hands.
   
4. Turn the pork over so the skin side is upwards.  If any of the herby oil has dripped onto it, wipe this off with some kitchen roll.  Sprinkle over the sea salt.
   
5. Put the pork into the oven and cook for 45 minutes at the pre-heated temperature (250˚C or 240˚C Fan).  The skin should bubble up and form crackling.  Then turn the heat down to 170˚C or 160˚C Fan, and making sure you don’t get any on the skin, pour the wine into the roasting dish.  Continue cooking for a further 95 minutes.
   
   
6. Finally, turn the temperature down to 110˚C or 100˚C Fan and cook for a further 60 minutes. If at any point the crackling looks like it is going to burn, you can cover the dish with foil.
   
7. I like to pour the wine/herb mixture into a jug, skim off the oil and serve it as a gravy with the meat.  I also make a fresh salsa to have with the pork by finely chopping fresh pineapple, a little bit of red chilli, some coriander and finely chopped red onion.