Karohemd's World

My butcher had some nice looking belly pork today so I picked up a piece.
I first scored the skin, rubbed some salt into it and let sit for 20 minutes or so before wiping off the resulting moisture. The flesh side I rubbed with salt, pepper and thyme and then sat it in a roasting pan with a slosh of cider in the bottom. First I cooked it on the highest setting for about 20 minutes to get the skin going and then turned it right down to roast gently for about 4.5 hours.
I had first intended to serve it with mash but GigerPunk, a twitter friend, mentioned he used to cook belly pork on top of potatoes and onions which sounded like a brilliant idea. So I sweated off some red onions which I alternated with sliced redskin potatoes in an ovenproof dish, adding some well-seasoned chicken stock cooked with more cider and the juices from the roasting tin. This I roasted on medium high for about half an hour and then added the belly on top to roast for another half hour or so until the crackling blistered. I removed the dish from the oven to rest while wilting some spinach in butter, seasoned with salt, pepper and nutmeg. The finished dish looked like this:


I'm really happy with how this came out. The crackling was crunchy, not chewy at all and the meat was soft. The fat had almost completely rendered but could possibly have done with a little more cooking. Still, not bad for a first attempt.

As I had to buy two duck breasts and live on my own, I had duck again tonight. After a more traditional version last night I thought I'd try something a little different, inspired by one of Richard Corrigan's recipes on Channel 4's Cookery School (a rather fun programme, actually).
First, I skinned the duck breast, scored it slightly, rubbed it with salt and put it into a cold pan, a sheet of greaseproof paper on top and weighed it down with a saucepan that would fit inside. I slowly turned up the heat to medium and cooked the skin until nicely browned, every now and then spooning out the rendered fat into a little bowl. I flipped the skin to crisp up the other side using the same method, took it out and drained it on some kitchen paper.

Next, I fried the breast in some of the reserved duck fat on both sides until seared nicely, removed it from the pan and covered it in foil to rest.
In the same pan I fried some ginger cut into matchsticks and finely sliced garlic and then added chicken stock, a splash of soy sauce, some chilli powder, freshly ground pepper and a bruised stalk of lemongrass, the washed spinach, put on a lid and simmered until the spinach was wilted. I took out the lemongrass and adjusted the seasoning with salt and lime juice and added the resting juices from the duck.

In a deep plate, I added the parsnip chunks (simmered in milk earlier), the spinach, the sliced duck and poured over the broth, garnishing with the sliced, crispy skin. You don't really need to season the meat and veg as the broth will be flavourful enough.

In a big pot/saucepan in a little olive oil cook the sliced chorizo on medium heat until most of the fat has rendered. In that fat, sautee a few finely sliced garlic gloves.
Add the washed, wet spinach leaves, season with a little salt and freshly ground nutmeg, stir it all up and put on a tight lid.
Take the pan off the heat (there will be enough steam and residual heat to cook the spinach) and let sit for a couple of minutes, stirring now and then, until the spinach has wilted down.
Serve with boiled new potatoes.