You are here:

Roast pork belly with buttered cabbage and braised beetroot

Paul Heathcote from Good Food Live
For a seriously tasty roast meal try Paul Heathcote's recipe for tender pork belly served with two vegetable side-dishes

Roast pork belly with buttered cabbage and braised beetroot

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 220ºC/Gas 6.

2. First cook the pork. Place the pork fat side-up, onion, peppercorns, thyme, rosemary, garlic, carrot, celery and orange zest in a roasting tray.

3. Pour the water into the tray around the pork. Season the pork with salt. Roast for 2 and a half hours until the pork is cooked through.

4. After the pork has been cooking for 1 hour prepare the beetroot. Wrap the beetroot, 25g of butter, onion, garlic, sugar, thyme and peppercorns in a large foil parcel. Season the beetroot with sea salt and pour over the red wine and balsamic vinegar.

5. Seal the parcel well and place in an ovenproof dish. Pour in enough water around the parcel to prevent the foil burning.

6. Bake the beetroot in the oven with the pork for 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes.

7. Carefully open the foil parcel as the steam could burn. Test the beetroot with a knife to see if it is tender. If not, wrap the parcel again and return for further cooking.

8. Once the beetroot is cooked keep the beetroots warm. Strain the beetroot juices into a small pan, bring to the boil and whisk in the remaining butter to thicken the sauce. Keep warm.

9. Remove the pork from oven, and drain off the cooking liquid.

10. Cut the pork into 6 portions, trimming the edges to square off the meat. With a sharp knife score the fat into long thin strips, brush with the olive oil.and season with sea salt.

11. Return the pork to the oven and roast until the crackling is golden-brown and crispy, around 15 minutes.

12. Meanwhile, cook the cabbage. Cut out the thick stalks from the cabbage and roughly shred the leaves into 4-5cm long pieces.

13. In a heavy-based saucepan place the cabbage, onion and butter. Add the water, cover the pan and cook over a high heat for 5-10 minutes until the cabbage is tender, topping up the cabbage with a little water if necessary.

14. Season the cabbage with salt and freshly ground pepper if necessary.

15. Serve the roast pork with the buttered cabbage, braised beetroots and the beetroot juice sauce.

Comments add a comment

Be the first to add a comment...

Serves: 6

Prep: 40 min
Cook: 3 hrs

Ingredients
900g pork belly
1 onion, chopped
12 peppercorns
1 sprig of Thyme
1 sprig of Rosemary
2 garlic cloves, lightly crushed
1 carrot, chopped
1 celery stick, chopped
strips of zest from 1 orange
300ml water
sea salt
1 tbsp Olive oil

For the Braised beetroot:

6 medium-sized beetroots, topped, tailed and peeled
50g Butter
100ml Red wine
1/2 onion, chopped
2 garlic clove, finely sliced
2/3 tbsp Balsamic vinegar
1 tsp demerara sugar
a sprig of Thyme
4 Black peppercorns, lightly crushed
sea salt