Slow roasted pork belly with Clonakilty Blackpudding potato cakes

Slow roasted pork belly with Clonakilty Blackpudding potato cakes

Serves: 3-4Prep Time: 1 hourCook Time: 5 hours

This melt in the mouth recipe is an absolute classic! It’s an inexpensive treat and is ideal when cooking for big groups. It might take a while to prepare but it’s totally worth the wait when you get to sit down and enjoy the tender pork belly with crispy crackling and the fabulous Clonakilty Blackpudding potato cakes.

Ingredients

1.5kg pork belly

Rosemary (dried or fresh)

Thyme (dried or fresh)

2 cans of Bulmers

2 parsnips

2 carrots

1 onion

1 garlic bulb

1 apple

Sea salt

Pepper

For the puree:

600g Jerusalem artichokes

100ml cream

Salt

Pepper

For the Blackpudding potato cakes:

4-5 medium potatoes

300g Clonakilty Blackpudding

Butter to taste

Flour to bind

Salt

Pepper

Method

1. To get the best crackling you want to dry out the skin as best you can. Score the skin and cover in salt and a mix of the herbs and leave overnight in the fridge. Make sure to get the salt into the scored pieces of skin so it absorbs as much moisture from the skin as possible.

2. The next morning the skin should have dried out so remove the salt and pat dry. Heat your oven to 220C. Chop your veg and apple roughly and place in a baking tray. Place the piece of pork belly on top of the veg making sure to season it well with salt, pepper and a good amount of herbs on and around it. Place in the oven for 30 minutes at that temperature and then reduce to 140C. After an hour pour the Bulmers into the baking tray and place back in the oven.

3. You can get the Blackpudding potato cakes and the puree ready whenever you want and they can be reheated once you are ready to serve up.

4. To make the potato cakes make your mash potatoes, cook your Clonakilty Blackpudding and mix both together. Sprinkle with some flour to help bind it and mix again.

5. Shape the potato cakes and place in the fridge for a minimum of 30 minutes.

6. Peel the artichokes and place them in water which has lemon juice in it to keep them from oxidising. Once you’re ready to roast them place them on a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and season. You should roast them at 160C or 170C for 15 minutes or until soft. However, if your pork is in the oven at the same time you may have to reduce the temperature to 90C and so they may take a little longer to roast.

7. Once they are roasted let cool for a few minutes and place into a blender. If you have a hand blender they are the handiest as the normal ones can be a bit big and don’t chop the artichokes up enough.

8. When they are chopped up enough add some cream and seasoning and taste. Continue adding cream and seasoning until the consistency and flavour is right. If you wanted to make the puree completely smooth you could pass the mix through a fine sieve. Once ready set aside until you’re ready to serve.

9. When the pork belly is finally ready take it out of the oven and remove the bones. Let rest for a few minutes.

10. Remove the potato cakes from the fridge and place in a hot pan with a bit of oil to heat. This usually takes 3 to 4 minutes on each side depending on how thick you have made them.

11. Heat your plates for a couple of minutes in the oven to keep everything nice and hot.

12. Heat your puree in a small pot and once heated, place on your plates.

13. Place some pork belly on the plates along with the potato cakes and you’re ready to go.

14. You can add some mixed salad leaves to give it a lift.

 

Recipe can be found here.