Pork belly is so ridiculously easy I can’t believe I don’t do it more. Granted, there’s a lot of fat on it, but it’s really tasty fat – not the unpleasantly rubbery kind you can sometimes get on chops, but part soft, part crunchy really good stuff. And the fat bastes the meat as it’s cooking, making it sweet and tender and NOM.
The lentils are also simple and the mashed potatoes… well, you know how to make mashed potatoes.
Ingredients
Pork belly. However much you need to feed however many people you’re cooking for. Use the power of your eyes to judge when you buy it.
Puy lentils – about a cup’s worth for two people – multiply as necessary.
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
3 or 4 sage leaves
A little oil
About 1 pint of stock – meat, chicken or vegetable, it’s up to you. I used ham stock as that’s what I had in and it matched the pork.
The Cooking
First preheat the oven to about 170C/340F. Rub some salt on the skin of the pork, put it on a roasting tray and put it in the oven. Leave it for 2 and a half hours THAT’S IT. That is all you have to do. The meat will become tender and sweet and the skin will become lovely crackling. This is the world’s easiest cut of meat to cook, I swear.
About 40 minutes before the 2 and a half hours is up, roughly chop up the onion, garlic and sage leaves and heat up a splash of oil in a saucepan. Fry the onion until it’s just turning golden and then add the lentils and garlic. Fry for another couple of minutes and then add half the stock. Bring it up to the simmer and then just let it gently bubble away for half an hour, stirring occasionally. If it dries out, add more of the stock. Have a taste and if it needs salt and pepper, add it. Make sure it’s not too salty because pork is naturally salty anyway.
While the lentils are simmering, make the mashed potatoes if you’re having them.
Once the pork is done, take it out of the oven, let it relax for a few minutes and then cut it into hefty slices. Artfully arrange it on the lentils so it looks extra-nice and serve. Classy, tasty food.
February 28, 2008 at 10:40 am
Welcome back – you’ve been missed! And such a favourite food combination of mine as well!
February 28, 2008 at 11:13 am
Hello, it’s nice to be back! Thanks.
March 31, 2008 at 1:57 pm
Looks fabulous. I’ve been looking for agood pork belly recipe.
May 23, 2008 at 5:00 pm
[…] Tex-Mex Corn Chip Chili from …and a cookie for dessert, Curried Egg Salad from 101 Cookbooks, Roast Pork Belly with Braised Puy Lentils from 101 Things Every Cook Should Cook, Stuffed Poblano Peppers from 365 Days of Pure Vegetarian, […]
October 17, 2008 at 9:04 pm
[…] 3. Make a big pot of humble, nourishing lentil soup. Or, if you’re really feeling blue, lentils with pork belly. […]
December 22, 2009 at 11:05 pm
yeah its tasty. I fry them into Patan ghee instead of oil. It gives better taste. Try it.