It's as much a mouthful as the title!
Ingredients
- maple syrup glazed belly of pork confit:
- 800 g piece of pork belly (bones removed, trimmed of excess fat)
- 500 ml duck fat
- 50 ml chicken stock
- marinade:
- 8 juniper berries (crushed)
- 1 unpeeled orange (roughly chopped)
- 120g sea salt
- maple syrup glaze:
- 1 tblsp orange marmalade
- 2 tblsp maple syrup
- carrot mash:
- 5 carrots (peeled and roughly chopped)
- 1 shallot (peeled and halved)
- 1 clove of garlic (peeled and crushed)
- 1 tblsp water
- 2 tblsp olive oil
- salt and freshly ground white pepper
- spiced apple:
- 2 granny smith apples
- 1 star anise
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 250 ml apple juice
Method
- Maple Syrup Glaze:
- Mix maple syrup and orange marmalade, ensuring the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon heavily.
- Marinade:
- Cover the pork belly with the marinade ingredients and marinate overnight in a covered, deep earthenware container in the fridge.
- Remove from the marinade the next day, wash the meat and pat dry with kitchen paper. Preheat the oven to 150°C (300°F/Gas 2).
- Melt the duck fat, pour it over the pork belly and roast the meat for 2½ hours.
- Remove the pork belly, now pork confit, from the duck fat and place between two baking trays.
- Lay a heavy weight on top to flatten the confit. Cool.
- Preheat the oven to (180°C/350°F/Gas 4).
- Cut the pork confit into four equal portions.
- Heat a dry frying pan and seal the confit, skin side down, in the pan for 3-4 minutes, then put it in a roasting tin, skin side up.
- Brush the pork confit with the chicken stock, then with the Maple syrup glaze, and roast in the oven for 5 minutes.
- Preheat the grill to medium.
- Brush the pork confit with the chicken stock and maple glaze again.
- Place under the grill, skin side up, for 2 minutes.
- Spiced Apple:
- Peel the apple, then dice.
- In a pot, add the apple, cinnamon and star anise then apple juice and reduce until the apple is tender.
- Peel the apple, then dice.
- Remove cinnamon and star anise.
- Blitz into a purée.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F/Gas 4).
- Place the carrots, shallot, garlic, and water in a roasting tray.
- Stir in the olive oil.
- Cover with tinfoil and roast for 35-40 minutes until tender.
- Pulverise the carrot mixture in a food processor.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- To serve - spoon the carrot mash on to four warm plates. Arrange maple syrup glazed pork confit beside it, and, finally, garnish with the spiced apple.
