Belly of Pork With Garlic, Lemon and Thyme
"From the Daily Mail. It's seems a good way to use up my over abundant herb garden. I love the thought of garlic, lemon and thyme and a crisp crackling. I plan to try this soon - I have the meat in the freezer. I'm entering it now in case I lose my scrap of paper. The recipe says: serve with plenty of mashed potatoes. This needs overnight marinating. There is no indication of how many it will serve.
I've made this and it was really delicious. A bit of fussying around, but worth it for a special occasion."
photo by fluffernutter
- Ready In:
- 61hrs
- Ingredients:
- 13
- Yields:
-
1 roast
ingredients
- 1 (1 1/2 kg) pork belly, piece
- 12 garlic cloves, peeled and bruised
- 3 lemons, zest of
- 2 tablespoons of chopped thyme
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- salt & freshly ground black pepper
-
For the salsa verde
- 1 bunch flat leaf parsley
- 1 bunch basil
- 1⁄2 bunch coriander
- 2 roasted garlic cloves, peeled
- 150 ml olive oil
- lemon juice
- salt & freshly ground black pepper
directions
- Pierce the skin of the pork all over with a skewer, going through the fat but not the flesh. Pour boiling water over the skin, drain and dry well.
- Mix the garlic, lemon zest, thyme, olive oil and salt and pepper together. Rub mixture well into the fleshy side of the pork and leave to marinade overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 200C/400Fgas mark 6. Place the pork on a wire rack skin-side up and place the rack over a roasting tin half filled with water. Sprinkle with skin with salt and roast for 15 minutes to start the crackle forming. Then reduce the temperature to 180C/350F/gas mark 4 and continue to cook for one and a half hours. Top up with water in the roasting tin as necessary.
- Meanwhile make the salsa verde. In a food processor, mix the herbs and garlic to a paste and gradually pour in the oil so that it becomes emulsified. Season to taste with salt and pepper and lemon juice.
- Increase the oven temperature to 230C/450F/gas mark 8 and roast the pork for a further 15 minutes.
- Remove from oven, slice and serve with salsa verde.
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Reviews
-
This was surprising better than I expected! The flavor was subtle and enjoyable. Admittedly, this is a very fatty cut. By roasting it on a rack, the fat that melted off the roast, stayed off the roast. A lot more healthy than corned beef or bacon because at least there aren't the nitrates of cured meat. There was work in the prep (zesting 3 lemons), but that was all done the night before. Roasting it on a rack over water kept the splattering down and the oven stayed clean. That was good. Served it with boiled potatoes and steamed broccoli and carrots. Didn't make the salsa because we do not like coriander. Served it with mustard. I'd do it again, but rarely. -
I bought a pork belly strips at a Laotina market because I knew there would be a great recipe for it somewhere on the 'zaar. The flavor of this is really nice, very succulent. I hope my out-of-focus photo conveys its deliciousness. It's a lot of work to cook and carve for just a bit of meat, but it was worth doing once!
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
Not much to tell! I'm a South African living in London, mother of four rangingfrom 25 to 9. I am desperately trying to get my children's stories published - anyone out there interested? Until my ship sails in, I cook, eat everything and anything, and then diet like mad. I love experimenting with new recipes and I absolutely hate spoilt kids who visit and say? "what is THIS?" and push it away without trying.
My favourite cookbook is Mrs Beeton's family cookbook. 1994 edition.
