Slow-Roast Pork Belly with Celeriac Apple Puree and Roasted Apples

Melt-in-the-mouth pork belly served alongside a refreshing puree and sweet roasted apples. Does comfort food get any better?

Category: Salads & sides, Meat

Recipe in PDF format (print friendly)

• Serves 4
• Prep time: 30min
• Cook time: 2h 50min
• Total time: 3h 20min
• Difficulty: Intermediate

For the Pork belly:

Ingredients

• 1kg pork belly, skin scored
• 1 tablespoon coarse sea salt
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• a squeeze of lemon juice

Directions

Heat the oven to 200°C. Take the pork out of the fridge and pat the skin dry. Brush the skin lightly with olive oil. Crush the salt and fennel seeds together using a mortar and pestle, then rub the mixture all over the pork, making sure it gets into the cuts in the skin. Transfer the pork to a large roasting tin and roast for 20 minutes to start off the crackling. After this time, squeeze some lemon juice over the skin and reduce the heat to 160°C. Roast for a further 1 1/2 hours, basting the meat every once in a while with the pan juices. Turn the oven back up to 200°C and roast for 20 minutes to crisp up. Leave to rest on a board for 15 minutes before carving.

For the Celeriac apple puree:

Ingredients

• 500g peeled and diced celeriac root (about 1 large)
• 2 medium cooking apples, peeled, cored and diced
• 3 thyme sprigs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons heavy cream

Directions

Combine the celeriac, apple, and thyme in a large saucepan. Cover with water, season with salt, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes until the celeriac is tender. Remove the thyme sprigs and drain the water, reserving some of the liquid. Puree the celeriac and apples using an immersion blender, add cooking liquid by the tablespoon to achieve the desired consistency. Return the saucepan to low heat, add butter and heavy cream and cook for another minute. Adjust the seasoning if necessary, remove from heat, cover and keep warm.

For the Roasted apples:

Ingredients

• 2 medium apples, cut into chunks
• 2 medium purple onions, peeled and cut into chunks
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• freshly ground pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 5 thyme sprigs
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

Put the apples and onions into a baking dish together with thyme sprigs. Season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with fennel seeds, and toss with olive oil. Transfer to the oven as soon as the pork belly is done. Roast for 20 minutes at 190°C or until the apples are tender.

Additional images