Pork Belly With Braised Fennel, Mashed Potato And Juniper Sauce Recipe

Ingredients

• Fennel fronds, to garnish

Pork

• 2kg piece pork belly, skin scored

• Salt for sprinkling

• 60ml olive oil

• 500ml cloudy apple cider

• 500ml chicken stock

Mashed potato

• 1.5kg potatoes, peeled, halved

• 75g butter

• 60ml thickened cream

• 60ml milk

Juniper sauce

• 60g butter

• 1 eschallot, finely chopped

• 3 tbsp. gin

• 250ml chicken stock

• 1 tbsp. juniper berries, bruised

• 1 tbsp. finely chopped rosemary

• 60ml crème fraiche

Braised fennel

• 2 tbsp. olive oil

• 3 garlic cloves, sliced

• 3 baby fennel, quartered lengthways

Instructions

1. To prepare pork, pat rind dry with absorbent paper. Sprinkle with a thick layer of salt and rub into cuts. Refrigerate, uncovered, for 1 hour or up to overnight. Rub away the salt.
2. Place pork on a rack over the sink and pour boiling water over rind. Pat dry.
3. Preheat oven to 180C.
4. Rub pork rind with oil and season with salt. Place in a roasting dish, rind-side down. Roast for 1 hour. Turn pork, rind-side up and add cider to dish, ensuring it does not touch the rind.
5. Roast for about another 1 hour or until rind is very crisp and meat is tender.
6. To make mashed potato, place potatoes in a large saucepan of cold salted water. Bring to a gentle boil. Boil until tender. Drain and allow steam to evaporate.
7. Pass potatoes through a ricer. Add butter, cream and milk and beat with a wooden spoon to combine. Season.
8. To make the sauce, melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook eschallot until soft but not coloured. Add gin and bring to a simmer. Add stock, berries and rosemary. Add 125ml of liquor from the roast pork. Simmer until reduced and thickened to form a sauce.
9. Remove from heat and whisk in crème fraiche. Season. Strain to serve.
10. To prepare fennel, heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add garlic and fennel. Cook, turning occasionally, until golden brown. Add 125ml of liquor from the roast pork. Cook, covered, until very tender.
11. Serve sliced pork with mashed potato, fennel and sauce. Garnish with fennel fronds.