Roast pork belly with fennel and hazelnuts
Start this the day ahead to ensure you have perfect, crisp crackling.
Ingredients
750g - 1kg pork belly, skin on
2 teaspoons flaky sea salt
1 tablespoon fennel seeds, toasted and ground
2 onions, peeled and sliced
1 large fennel bulb, sliced
1 cup dry white wine or water
100 grams rocket leaves
1 radicchio, leaves roughly torn
juice 1⁄2 lemon
drizzle of extra virgin olive oil if required
1⁄4 cup roasted hazelnuts
Method
The day before cooking, score the skin of the pork belly with a sharp knife (or use a clean stanley knife). Pour ladles of boiling water over the skin to open up the pores. Dry the pork very well
Rub the sea salt and the fennel seeds into the meat and skin of the pork ensuring that you get some salt into the cuts of the skin. Put on a tray and refrigerate uncovered overnight (this ensures the skin will dry out even more)
When ready to cook, preheat the oven 220°C. Layer the onion and fennel in a roasting dish, add the wine and lay the pork on top of the vegetables. Put into the oven and roast for 40 mins. Turn down the heat to 160°C and roast for a further 20 mins, adding extra liquid to the roasting dish if the vegetables start to catch
Remove from the oven
If the pork skin hasn’t completely crackled, put the belly on another tray and slide under the grill to finish popping (be careful though, as it can burn very quickly)
Leave the meat to rest for 10 mins. Meanwhile, mix the cooked vegetables with the rocket leaves and radicchio so they wilt slightly and use a little of the juices (ideally there will be around 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 a cup) to dress them. Add a squeeze of lemon juice and some olive oil if needed. Season to taste
Slice the pork and serve on the vegetables and scatter with the hazelnuts