Slow-Roasted Pork Belly with Roasted Carrots & Apple Sauce

• 1 kgpork belly, skin scored
• 2 tspfennel seeds, roughly crushed
• 6carrots, peeled, cut into batons
• salt and black pepper
• 1 tspsmoked paprika
• 2 tbspgarlic-infused olive oil
• 3spring onions, green tops only, sliced
• 1 tbspsugar
• 2 tbspbutter
• 3cooking apples, peeled, cored, chopped
• 1400 groast potatoes, prepared (optional)
• 4thyme sprigs (optional)
• 600 gsteamed seasonal greens (optional)

Method

1. 1Heat the oven to 220°C/200°C fan. Pat the pork skin dry. Rub the fennel seeds, smoked paprika and black pepper into the flesh underneath, keeping them off the skin so they do not burn. Rub 1 tbsp garlic-infused oil and a generous pinch of salt over the skin and into the scores.
2. 2Sit the pork skin-side up on a rack over a roasting tin. Roast for 30 minutes at high heat, until the skin is starting to blister and pop into crackling.
3. 3Drop the oven to 160°C/fan 140°C and roast for a further 1 hour 30 minutes, until a knife slides into the meat with no resistance and the skin is shatteringly crisp.
4. 4For the final 40 minutes, toss the carrot batons with 1 tbsp of the garlic-infused oil, season well, and tuck them into the tin around the pork to soak up the rendered fat.
5. 5Meanwhile, make the apple sauce. Tip the apples into a small pan with the butter, half the sugar and a splash of water. Cook over a low heat for 10 minutes, stirring now and then, until the apples collapse into a glossy, fragrant sauce. Taste and add the remaining sugar only if needed.
6. 6Lift the pork onto a board and rest for 10 minutes; listen to the crackling as it cools. Carve into thick slices.
7. 7Pile the pork onto a warm platter with the burnished carrots alongside, spoon over the apple sauce, and scatter with spring onion greens, optional thyme leaves if using and a heavy crack of black pepper.
8. 8Serve with the optional prepared roast potatoes and steamed greens if using, heated through while the pork rests.

Per serving

kcal

1025

protein

16.8g

fibre

4.4g

carbs

21.4g

fat

97.5g