Slow Roasted Pork Belly with Braised Red Cabbage and Cauliflower Puree

I was set another challenge by a reader of this blog, to find a great pork belly recipe. They really didn't need to ask twice. I adore pork and I have ordered pork belly from menus cross Sydney and interstate. The best pork belly I have ever eaten was at a French restaurant in Melbourne. Thus, I had that dish firmly in mind when I started my research. Thanks to the Good Food site and some experimentation, I can assure you this recipe is delicious!!

If you are not sure about the fennel seed taste, just use less or replace with another herb, perhaps rosemary.

I chose to serve it with braised red cabbage as recommended by the Good Food site, but also added a cauliflower puree as that was part of my Melbourne memory. The result was fantastic, with all flavours blending really well together. I urge you to give it a try with these side dishes, however it can also be served with other roasted vegetables, other mashes or even a fresh salad. The star of the dish is definitely the pork though!

Note that this recipe is for a 1 1/2 to 2kg piece of pork belly, so you may need to adjust cooking times if your piece of meat is a different size. I used a piece that was about 1.2kg and cut about 10 minutes off each of the crackling cooking times (beginning and end) and about half an hour off the middle cooking time. If you are unsure, just keep an eye on your roast and test it. I have a meat thermometer which is like my best friend when roasting meat. It takes the guess work out and I would highly recommend buying one. Don't think mine was very expensive, and it has all the information you need on it so you don't have to remember different temperatures. I'll post a picture of it at the bottom of this post.

Thermomix owners: You can make your paste for the pork in your TM after roasting the fennel seeds and peppercorns. You can also make your cauliflower puree in the TM - just follow the mash potato recipe, substituting cauliflower in place of the potatoes.

Slow Roasted Pork Belly with Braised Red Cabbage and Cauliflower Puree

Serves 4-6

Pork Belly
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
1/2 small bunch thyme (leaves only)*
2 garlic cloves
Sea salt
olive oil
1 1/2-2kg pork belly
Water
2 lemons

* I couldn't find fresh thyme the day I made this, so I used some of the paste from the Gourmet Fresh brand.

Braised Red Cabbage
2 small-medium sized onions
Olive oil
2 apples, peeled and diced
Small red cabbage, shredded
Water
50g brown sugar
50ml red wine vinegar

Cauliflower Puree
Small cauliflower
1-2 cups milk
50g butter
Salt & pepper to taste

Pork Belly

1. Roast fennel seeds and peppercorns in a dry frying pan for a couple of minutes.

2. Place the fennel and peppercorns in a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder along with sea salt, thyme and garlic and grind until you have a paste. Then mix in about a tablespoon of oil and rub it all over the pork belly. Make sure the pork belly has been scored (that is, has small slits cut into the skin - most places sell it already scored). Place the pork belly in a dish or on a plate, cover it with cling wrap and refrigerate it for at least 3 hours.

3. Once ready to cook, rub the skin of the pork with plenty of salt and and a little oil. This will help the crackling to form. Place it in an oven proof dish on a wire rack so it's raised and not sitting in the actual pan. I also like to add about 2-3 cups of water to the pan which helps the meat to cook tenderly. However, this isn't necessary. Your pork will still be great without the steam from the water.

4. Roast the pork belly in a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius fan forced for 30 minutes - don't forget to adjust the time if your pork belly is smaller than that used in this recipe.

5. Then squeeze lemon juice over the skin of your pork and turn the oven down to 160 degrees Celsius fan forced so that it can cook slowly and beautifully. Cook it at this temperature for 2 hours, unless you have a different size piece of meat.

6. Finally, crank the heat up to 200 degrees Celsius fan forced for a final 30 minutes to finish off the crackling, which should come out nice and crunchy.

7. Allow your pork belly to rest for about 10-15 minutes before carving it. I usually just leave it in the pan and cover lightly with some foil.

Braised Red Cabbage

1. Slice onions into quarters and separate layers. Saute them in a couple of tablespoons of oil until they are soft.

2. Add the apples and cabbage, along with about 1 cup of water and turn the heat down. Place lid on saucepan and let it stew for about 1 hour or until tender. Just keep an eye on it, stirring occasionally and adding more water if you feel it's necessary.

3. Remove lid and stir in the brown sugar and vinegar and cook for a further 10 minutes until the liquid has pretty much evaporated. Season with salt and pepper if you wish.

Cauliflower Puree

1. Clean and finely cut up cauliflower, place into a saucepan and cover the florets with milk. They don't have to be totally submerged. Alternatively, boil them in water and then drain and add the milk afterwards.

2. Bring to the boil and cook until tender. If boiling in water, drain and then add milk, butter, salt and pepper and mash. If boiling in milk, there is no need to drain - just add the butter, salt and pepper and proceed to mash. For a really fine blend you will need to use a sieve, however this is not necessary.

Meat Thermometer

Hope you love this recipe as much as I do!