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Roast pork belly with apple, sour cherry and fennel chutney


Serves: 4
timePrep time: 30 mins
timeTotal time:
Roast pork belly with apple, sour cherry and fennel chutney
Recipe photograph by Jonathan Gregson

Roast pork belly with apple, sour cherry and fennel chutney


Serves: 4
timePrep time: 30 mins
timeTotal time:

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Nutritional information (per serving)
Calories
759Kcal
Fat
25gr
Saturates
9gr
Carbs
53gr
Sugars
52gr
Fibre
5gr
Protein
50gr
Salt
3gr

Anna Hansen

Anna Hansen

New Zealand-raised chef and author Anna Hansen serves up exciting modern fusion food as head chef at The Modern Pantry in London.

See more of Anna Hansen’s recipes
Anna Hansen

Anna Hansen

New Zealand-raised chef and author Anna Hansen serves up exciting modern fusion food as head chef at The Modern Pantry in London.

See more of Anna Hansen’s recipes

Ingredients

  • 2 x 750g pieces pork belly
  • 4 star anise
  • 2 tbsp fennel seeds
  • 2 tbsp sweet smoked paprika (or you can use ordinary paprika)
  • 3 dried bay leaves
  • 3 tbsp Maldon sea salt
  • 2 x 750g pieces pork belly
For the chutney:
  • 35g dried sour cherries
  • 50-75ml apple juice
  • 500g Cox’s apples, peeled, cored and roughly chopped
  • 1 fennel bulb, finely sliced widthways
  • 1 small red onion, halved and sliced lengthways through the root
  • 50g root ginger, peeled and finely grated
  • 1 red chilli, deseeded and sliced finely into rings
  • 1 tsp fennel seeds
  • 1 tsp coriander seeds
  • 2 star anise
  • 125g demerara sugar
  • 200ml cider vinegar
  • 35g dried sour cherries

Step by step

Get ahead

The chutney will keep for a month or so in a sealed container in the fridge.

  1. Pat the pork belly dry with kitchen paper and place on a plate, skin-side up. Chill the meat in the fridge, uncovered, overnight. Tip the sour cherries for the chutney into a bowl, add the apple juice to cover and soak overnight.

  2. The following day, crush the star anise and the fennel seeds, using a pestle and mortar, then grind them, together with the paprika and the bay leaves, in a coffee grinder or blender. Tip the herbs and spices into a bowl and mix in the sea salt. Rub the mixture all over the pieces of pork belly.

  3. Preheat the oven to 190°C, fan 170°C, gas 5. Put all the chutney ingredients (including the soaked cherries and any juice there may be) in a roasting tin, mix together and cover with kitchen foil. Bake for 1 hour, stirring the mixture once or twice. Remove the foil and continue to bake for another 20-30 minutes, stirring halfway through. The chutney should be glossy, slightly caramelised and with a nice syrupy consistency. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

    Tip

    This goes wonderfully with roast sweet potato or shredded cabbage stir-fried with a little chilli and garlic. Any leftover chutney will go perfectly with cheese, roast lamb and chicken, and cold cuts.

  4. To roast the pork belly, reduce the oven heat to 160°C, fan 140°C, gas 3. Place the belly, flesh-side down, in a shallow roasting tin lined with baking parchment. Add 200ml water and roast for 2-2½ hours. Timing will depend on the thickness of the belly, but it will take at least 2 hours. You will know it is cooked when a fork pushed into the flesh comes away easily.

  5. When the belly is ready, crank up your oven heat to 220°C, fan 200°C, gas 7 and leave the pork to cook for a further 15-20 minutes. This should make the crackling bubble up and go crispy. A trick we use at the restaurant, when the crackling refuses to behave itself, is to heat up a heavy-based frying pan with a little oil. When it is hot, lay the belly skin-side down and it will puff up like a dream. If the surface of the crackling is uneven, just press it down where it’s not touching the pan. Or just place under a hot grill for 5 minutes or so until the crackling bubbles. To carve, turn the pork belly skin-side down and serve with the chutney.

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