The other weekend I cooked a social dinner for the family. We had roast pork belly with vege and gravy. This is a play on Jamie Olivers recipe and Ive yet to find one better particularly the gravy the man is a genius with gravy!
Ingredients
1 x pork belly 1.5-2kg
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
1 tablespoon sea salt
100 mls olive oil
4 carrots and or turnips peeled and halved
3 x onions peeled and quartered
sprigs of thyme and rosemary
6 whole cloves of garlic
sea salt and pepper
1 bottle of white wine or 500mls of chicken stock
2 tablespoons of flour
Heat the oven to its highest temperature
Dry fry or roast the fennel seeds then put in a mortar with the tablespoon of seas salt and bash till the seeds are mixed with the salt. Score the skin of the pork then poor over some of the olive oil and rub into the skin. Add the fennel and salt mix and rub into the skin and cracks.
Spread the veges and herbs on the bottom of a roasting pan. Place the pork on top. This enables the hot air to circulate around the pork.
Place in the oven and cook for 15 mins till the skin starts to bubble. Then turn the temperature down to 180C. Add half the bottle of wine or stock. Cook for an hour and then add the rest of the wine (bar a couple of tablespoons) and cook for another hour and half.
Take the roast out and check that its cooked. It should come away easily and the crackling should be lovely crisp and golden. Place on a board and leave to rest.
Place the roasting dish on the stove top and heat to medium high. Add the flour and stir till thick. Add the rest of the wine or stock if too thick. Break out the masher and mash those veges up so that they further thicken the gravy. I then put it through a sieve and serve with the pork and vege sides.
Enjoy :)
Its been a bit miserable in our home the last couple of days with husband sick with a cold. So Ive been cooking him nice food to keep his stomach happy at least. This morning I made him corn fritters with spinach, bacon, roast tomatoes and salsa. It was very much a case of what I had in the pantry.
Ingredients
Corn fritters
150g flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 x eggs
1 x can of extra sweet corn kernels
1 x onion chopped
2 teaspoons coriander flakes or a handful of fresh coriander chopped
1 tablespoon sweet chili sauce
seas salt and pepper
vegetable oil
Roast tomatos
2 x large tomatos - roma or juicy heirloom if you can get it if not some vine ones would be good
sea salt and pepper
sprinkle of dried herbs - I used thyme
splash of olive oil
Salsa - I used a store bought tomato salsa today but a fresh one is great too. Add half an avocado with a splash of olive oil and salt and pepper and bacon ..yumm
Heat your oven to 180 C and halve the tomatoes. Put in a small one dish and sprinkle on salt pepper and herbs. Drizzle over the olive oil and put in the oven to cook for 20 mins.
So basically I didn't feel like chopping and mixing etc (yes was feeling slightly lazy) so I drained the corn and put 3/4 in a food processor with all the other ingredients and whizzed away till combined. I then threw in the rest of the corn.
I heated a small pan to medium high and added a tablespoon of vege oil. I put some batter in the pan to the size I wanted and cooked a couple of minutes. Make sure to check as these fritters can burn if not watching. Turn over and cook for a further couple of minutes. If your worried that the inside isn't cooked enough (but don't want to burn the outside) put in the oven with the tomatoes and let the fritter finish in the oven for 5 mins.
Cook the bacon and drain on a kitchen towel. Have the baby spinach leaves washed and drained ready to go. Fry an egg if you want to place it on top too.
Once everything is ready stack the fritters, bacon, spinach and salsa until its the height you want. Then place the egg on top if using. Place the roasted tomatoes and the avocado half on the side and season with salt and pepper.
Enjoy :)
