FLAT BELLY OVERNIGHT TEA RECIPES

Steps:

• Cook time: 12-14 hours.

  Preheat the oven to full whack (240C/475F/gas 9). Toss the reserved pork skin in a little oil and sea salt (you can either slice it into long, thin strips or leave as one piece), lay it flat on a tray and roast until perfectly golden and crisp, keeping a close eye on it, then remove. Peel the onions, then cut into wedges with the apples. Trim and roughly chop the celery and break the garlic bulb into cloves. Scatter it all in your largest roasting tray with the sage and bay leaves, pour in the cider and add a good splash of water.

  Bash the fennel seeds, cloves, dried chillies and . heaped teaspoon of salt to a fine dust in a pestle and mortar, then massage all over the pork with a drizzle of oil. Sit the pork in the tray, cover tightly with a double layer of tin foil, place in the oven and turn the temperature down to 130C/250F/gas ½ Roast for 10 to 12 hours, or until the meat pulls easily away from the bone, then remove from the oven and cover with a couple of clean tea towels to keep warm.

  Turn the oven up to 200C/400F/gas 6. Peel the potatoes, then cut lengthways into wedges along with the fennel. Parboil in a couple of pans of boiling salted water – the potatoes for 7 minutes and the fennel for 6 – then drain, leave to steam dry completely, and place in a large, high-sided roasting tray (25cm x 35cm). Peel the garlic and blitz until fine with the anchovies, rosemary leaves and a good splash of boiling water in a blender. Finely grate in half the nutmeg and most of the Parmesan and pour in the cream. Add a pinch of salt and pepper, blitz again, then pour over the veg. Grate over the remaining Parmesan and bake at the bottom of the oven for 45 to 50 minutes, or until golden and bubbling. Serve everything in the middle of the table with a whole load of simply steamed seasonal greens. You’ll get a natural brothy gravy underneath the pork – reduce it on the hob before serving, if desired.

  Tip: Freshen this up with a zingy salsa. Chop 2 eating apples into fine matchsticks and toss in a bowl with 2 tablespoons of cider vinegar and 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Pick, roll up and finely slice the leaves from ½ a bunch of fresh mint and toss into the bowl with a pinch of salt and pepper. Simple.

  902 calories. 

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 220°C/200°C fan/ gas 7. Lay the pork belly flat on a work surface, skin-side down. Sprinkle with half the salt and lots of ground black pepper, rubbing it well into the meat. Leave to rest for 10 minutes.
• Cut 10 lengths of string, each about 30cm long (or see Cook School for an alternative tying method). Sprinkle the herbs, fennel seeds and garlic over the pork. Carefully roll up the from one of the long ends, then tie very tightly with string in the middle of the roll. Tie at either end, about 1cm in, then keep tying at intervals along the roll until all the lengths of string have been used up. If any filling escapes, push it back in.
• Massage 1 tbsp of the olive oil all over the joint (see Know-how), then rub in the remaining salt and some ground black pepper. Grease a large roasting tin with the remaining olive oil, then add the pork. Roast for 15 minutes with the seam facing upwards. Turn the pork and continue to cook, seam-side down, for 15 minutes (see Know-how).
• Turn the oven down to 150°C/ 130°C fan/gas 2 and cover the pork with foil. Roast for another 3 hours, adding the potatoes and carrots to the roasting tin after 1½ hours.
• Remove the roasting tin from the oven and turn the oven to low. Lift the pork onto a carving board. Brush the honey over the pork and spoon over some of the juices from the roasting tin. Toss the veg in the pan to coat in the remaining cooking juices, then keep warm in a low oven. Leave the pork to rest for 5 minutes, then slice and serve hot or at room temperature with the roasted vegetables.