Roasted pork belly with braised cheek, celeriac puree and apple salsa Recipe

Method

• 1. FOR THE PORK BELLY

  Preheat the oven to 200'C.
  
  Remove the skin from the pork belly. Slash the skin with a sharp knife and rub Maldon sea salt into the cuts.
  Roast in the oven until crispy (this will take at least 1 hour). Allow to cool and then chop into small pieces to use as a garnish.
  
  Lower the oven temperature to 160'C. Place the pork belly on a roasting tray and roast in the oven for 3 hours.

• 2. FOR THE PIG'S CHEEKS

  Peel and roughly chop the onion, carrot and garlic. Pick the thyme leaves from the stalks. Seal the cheeks in a hot sauce pan with a splash of oil. Once golden brown, remove from the pan and set aside.
  
  Add the vegetables to the same pan, along with a little butter. Add a teaspoon of plain flour and cook for 1 minute before adding the red wine. Bring the wine to the boil and reduce by half. The sauce will become quite thick. Once the red wine has reduced, add the veal stock to the pan.
  
  Return the pig's cheeks to the pan and cook over a low heat for 2 hours or until the cheeks are tender. Remove the cheeks from the stock and the pass the liquid through a sieve to remove the vegetables.
  Return the sauce to the heat and reduce until thick and glossy.

• 3. FOR THE FAGGOT

  Peel and dice the carrots, celeriac and the shallot. Lightly crush the juniper seeds and caraway. Roughly chop the sage. Dice the livers.
  
  Sweat the carrots, celeriac and shallots with the juniper, caraway and sage. Once the vegetables are soft, add the livers and the mincemeat. Season with salt and pepper and then add the breadcrumbs. Allow to cool and then roll the mixture into balls and wrap neatly in the caul fat.
  
  Colour the faggots in melted butter and then finish in the oven for 12-15 minutes depending on the size.

• 4. FOR THE PUREE

  Peel and finely dice the celeriac and garlic. Sweat gently in butter until soft but without allowing the celeriac to colour.
  Season and add enough milk to cover the mixture. Simmer over a medium heat until the celeriac is completely soft.
  
  Remove the celeriac from the liquid and place in a food processor. Blend to a puree, adding a little milk to loosen the mixture if necessary.

• 5. FOR THE APPLE SALSA

  Finely dice the apple and place in a bowl with the lemon juice and lemon zest. Grate the nutmeg into the bowl and add the rapeseed oil. Leave to marinate and then drain before serving the salsa.

• 6. TO SERVE

  Swipe the puree across the plate. Lay the belly, cheeks and faggot alongside each other and place neat piles of the apple salsa in between. Add the pork crackling, spoon on the reduction obtained from cooking the cheeks and finish with a little fresh coriander or coriander cress.