Book 7 : The Thrifty Kitchen - Suzanne and Kate Gibbs

I firmly believe that everyone has at least one recipe that they cook that I always remember (you better get cooking to get on the list!).  Not so much that I remember but that I remember them for, hopefully that makes sense?  The sort of meal or recipe that I can't eat someone else's without comparing it to yours.. Steph's scones, Mum's crepes, Nan's hedgehog, Shirley's salad, Jan's pasta bake, Grandma's apple turnovers (I would give up chocolate for these!!), the list is huge.  Every one of them remind me of the person who cooks them, some times in a sad way.  I have trouble eating hedgehog, because Nan used to make it for me without fruit and its never the same.  On the other hand my Grandma make the worlds best apple turnovers and they bring out the worst in me!  I'm not going to pretend that I'm easy going or the worlds best sharer (I have hidden chocolate stashes!) but when it comes to apple turnovers, I would rather eat 30 of them and make myself sick than let you have one!  To give you an example, once on a visit to Grandma and Pa's she had made me 3 batches (around 40 a batch) I had eaten almost all of them, I had oil coming out of my pores. Grandma had invited  friends over for morning tea and had placed four apple turnovers on the table, you cannot imagine my horror.  I finagled a place at the table and manage to snatch (seriously I almost knocked an old lady over!) all four of them and shove them into my mouth before I had even been introduced.... I feel no remorse for this, how dare they eat my apple turnovers.  Dammit, I was trying to tell you about Dad's meatloaf! My Dad makes the best meatloaf, this book has meat loaf that almost matches it.... blah, blah, blah here is the recipe (not for meat loaf, I've made that before!)

Recipe:  Roast Belly of Pork with Apple and Fennel Stuffing

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 x 105kg piece pork belly, boned and scored
2 tablespoons plain flour
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
roast potatoes, to serve

Apple and Fennel stuffing
1 cup fresh breadcrumbs
200g lean pork mince
1 cooking apple, grated
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 large egg, lightly beaten
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Rub salt all over the skin of the pork belly and leave for 30 minutes to draw out some of the moisture.  Preheat oven to 230c and lightly butter a flameproof roasting tin large enough to hold the pork belly lying flat.

To make the stuffing, combine all the ingredients in a bowl.  With a sharp knife, starting from one short end, carefully cut a slit length ways through the centre of the pork towards the middle.  Turn the pork and make a cut towards the middle from the other short end, leaving the sides intact, to form a pocket for the stuffing.  Fill the cavity with the stuffing and close each end with one or two small skewers.

Transfer the stuffed pork to the prepared roasting tin, kin-side up.  Rub the skin with a little more salt, then bake for 25-30 minutes until the skin has blistered.  Reduce the oven temp to 190c ad cook for a further 45 minutes, until the meat is cooked through.  Transfer to a warmed serving platter and leave to rest for 5-10 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the gravy by pouring 1 1/2 tablespoon of juices from the roasting tin into a small saucepan.  Add the flour and stir over medium heat until browned.  Pour in the stock and cook, stirring and scraping the bottom of the tin, until the gravy has thickened and is smooth.  Simmer for 1 minute, then season to taste and serve in a jug at the table.

Remove the crackling in sections to make carving easier, if you like.  Cut the meat into thick slices and serve with a piece of crackling for each person, alongside plenty of roast potatoes.

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I'm not a huge fan of pork belly, I find it can often be way to fatty and slimy.  This is the 3rd time I've cooked it, the previous times with various success.  When I say success I should say dumb luck!  There are so many ways to cook it, I tend to find it a little bit intimidating.  I'm like that with savoury dishes, avoid it and it will cook itself or someone else will cook it for me (hint hint Mum!).  Righto, back to the pork belly.  This recipe is really delicious, the fennel and garlic flavours go right through the pork to give it a really nice flavour.  I'm not a huge fan of fennel and would have normally reduced it or left it out (I know pork and fennel, perfect match!) but in the spirit of the challenge I chucked it in, good decision! (not really, I was just reading the recipe not writing it!)

I didn't show you the plate with gravy, mainly as it looked like I'd tripped while trying to plate it!

This book is full of delicious recipes that are fairly simple to make, and tend to be delicious.  I'm not sure about the thrifty title, pork belly is no longer a cheap cut of meat.  But everything I've made has worked really well.  Next time I'm reducing the amount of garlic slightly, increasing the amount of apple and serving it with asparagus or green beans.  Its a great entertaining meal, it looks spiffy and kind of impressive without being terrifying

Plus there is a stack of crackle :)

thanks
Kate
xx

Still playing with my Kate Bracks book, for dessert we had Frangipan Tart... yum