Cider-Roast Pork Belly with Fennel

Don't be fooled - this is a beautiful pork belly with fennel and not a strange
looking roast chicken!!!

A pure Donna Hay recipe as simple as easy as she promises.

5 Ingredients - BAM!

And this recipe is absolutely delicious.  I had to admit I wasn't sure about the fennel because I am not a fan of liquorice, HOWEVER, it's never a bad thing to try something new.  And boy did this fennel really make a difference to the pork.  A-mazing :)

Karen and I had our first chill weekend together in ages, so we filled our Saturday with morning shopping (Zara!!), grand cooking in the afternoon, some SA vs NZ rugby for me, and a movie for the evening (Prisoners, with Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhall).  Now as I write to you on Sunday we watch a spot of Harry Potter before settling into X Factor this evening with amazing left over dinner from last night! Brilliant..

So... to the cooking.
After fighting with all the blunt knives in our kitchen, Karen and I finally managed to scour the pork fat using a combined effort of a bread knife and tiny vegetable knife (If someone is reading this post and is around me for x-mas, birthday, etc, a proper Master Chef knife would be an awesome gift ;) hehe).

We managed in the end and after 45 mins in a high oven, plenty of salt and some lemon thyme sprigs under the pork belly, we had ourselves some crackling :) Oh yes.

We added in some cider and the huge fennel's and popped the pork back into the oven for 1 hour, along with some roast veggies and potatoes.

The end result was the most divine, succulent pork with subtle hints of fennel and thyme.  The fennel, even after being cooked, I didn't enjoy on its own.  I would only cook with fennel again as a flavour additive rather than a veggie itself.  But that's just me ;)

If you keen on making this recipe (and you should), here you go:

Recipe (serves 4):

• 1 kg Pork Belly
• Sea salt
• 8 Sprigs Lemon Thyme
• 4 Bulbs fennel, halved (I would only use 2)
• 375ml Cider

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 220 degrees.
• Dry the pork using a paper towel.  Score the skin at even intervals.  Place in a baking dish and genorously run with sea salt. 
• Tuck the Lemon Thyme under the pork and roast for 45 minutes or until you get a good crackling on top.
• Reduce heat to 120 degrees.
• Add the fennel to the baking dish and add the cider to just cover the meat but not touch the skin.
• Bake for 1 hour.

One Pot Steamed Fish

Week 2 of the July recipe challenge: Fish

In light of the fact that this week's July Recipe A Week Challenge was cooked by my mom in magic Malta, I need to post a fantastic fish recipe.  I have made this recipe countless times and it never fails. This recipe is dedicated to Marijka, who has been begging me for this recipe for ages!  I'm sorry it has taken so long to get this to you.  I hope its as delicious as the first time I made it for you.

My first "official" cook book was this one: fast, fresh, simple. by Donna Hay, given to me by aunt Helen.  This woman is my food icon - I love her!  The fact that my aunt loved her too is even more reason I cook so many of her dishes.  

As you have probably guessed, this is a Donna Hay recipe that I have adapted for fish instead of chicken. 

Enjoy!

Ingredients: (Serves 4)

4 portions of white fleshy fish (sea bass is brilliant)

1 cup Jasmine rice

2 cups of chicken/fish stock

3/4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

A good stick of fresh Ginger, roughtly sliced

5/6 spring onion sprigs, sliced longitudinally

1 yellow pepper, roughly sliced

Handful of coriander

Salt and pepper

1 tsp Chilli flakes (optional)

Instructions:

Add some olive oil to a large pan or pot with a lid.  

Fry until slightly golden the garlic, ginger, spring onion, pepper and chilli flakes (optional).  

Turn the heat down to a simmer.

Add the dry rice to the pan and swoosh around to combine with the ingredients.  Spread the rice evenly across the pan.

Add the stock slowly so not to disturb the rice.

Cover and let simmer for 8-10 minutes.

Remove the lid and gently place the fish portions on top of the rice. Crack some salt and pepper over the fish.

Cover and cook for 8-10 minutes.

Scoop the fish portions out with a big spoon, making sure you get the rice underneath.  Plate up with a sprinkling of coriander to finish.

Tip: Check the fish every now and then to make sure you don't over cook it or check there is still a bit of moisture in the pan.  If it looks a bit dry and your fish is not cooked yet, just add a wee bit more water.