Kane's Kitchen - 20th December 2011 - Spiced Pork Belly with Honeyed Carrots, Celeriac Mash and a Pinot Noir Reduction

Spiced Pork Belly with Honeyed Carrots, Celeriac Mash, Pak Choy and Pinot Noir Reduction

Serves:  6    

Prep Time:  15 mins

Cook Time:  4 hours

What You’ll Need:

• 1.5kg pork belly, rind scored finely, ribs removed
• Sea salt
• 1 tsp whole black pepper
• 1 tbsp Sichuan pepper, ground and toasted
• 2 tbsp Chinese five spice, toasted
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 cups chicken stock, cold
• Oil
• 4 pak choy, blanched, for plating

Celeriac Mash

• 500g Celeriac, peeled and cubed
• 300g Potatoes, peeled and cubed
• ¼ cup of thickened cream
• 2 tbsp butter

Honeyed Carrots

• 8 Dutch carrots, cleaned but not peeled
• 1 tbsp honey

Pinot Noir Reduction

• 1 shallot sliced thinly
• 200mL pinot noir
• 1 cup Chicken Stock and drippings from pork belly
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1tsp oil

What You’ll Need To Do:

1.        Using a pestle and mortar grind up the salt Sichuan and black peppers until the mix is fine and then add the five spice and sugar.

2.        Pour boiling water over the pork belly rind. Leave it to drain and dry well with paper towels.

3.        Place pork belly rind side down and rub spice mixture into the meat. Turn it over and rub 1 tsp of sea salt into the rind.

4.        Preheat the oven to 120c and then place the pork belly on a wire rack skin side up and sit that over a roasting tray half filled with cold chicken stock. Roast for 4 hours. Finish crackling off under a hot grill, careful not to burn the skin. If skin is a little charred, scrape off with a serrated knife. You should be able to hear the skin crackling.

5.        Whilst pork belly is in the oven, prepare the celeriac mash. Cook celeriac in large saucepan of boiling salted water 15 minutes. Add potato and boil until celeriac and potato are very tender, about 15 minutes longer. Drain. Return to same saucepan; stir over medium-high heat until any excess liquid in pan evaporates, about 2 minutes. Add cream and butter; mash until mixture is almost smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

6.        For the honeyed carrots, roast the whole dutch carrots for about an hour.  Spoon on honey just before serving. 

7.        For the pinot noir reduction, heat oil in saucepan and fry off shallots until they’re soft. Add pinot noir and bring to boil. Lower heat and simmer till liquid has reduced by half. Add chicken stock and pork drippings from oven to the reduction and simmer til sauce has reduced and slightly thickened.  Strain sauce. 

8.        Plate by laying the pak choy on the plate with a serve of the celeriac mash in the middle. Rest pork belly on top and lay carrots on the side. Top with a generous amount of the pinot noir reduction.