Panic and Sage and Garlic Pork Belly Roast

Sometimes things seem like way more of a big deal than they really are.

I’d been trying to think of what to do with half a piece of belly pork, the first half of which had become the Okinawan specialty rafute when all my peeps were here visiting from NZ (ah, how I miss them, all that is left of them is Anna’s shampoo in the shower and some undeveloped photos. Oh, and my broken, lonely heart, heh).

Since the rafute called for slow simmering in stuff like dashi, sake and soy sauce (a Japanese obaachan technique called nimono), I wanted to try something western, and what more western than a good ole fashioned roast? I’m fair like that.

Since traumatic childhood experiences have instilled in me a horror of dried out pork roasts (thanks RSA dinners) belly pork seemed like a good place to start. After all, there’s more fat than meat so it’s a pretty safe bet right? Forgiving. Flexible, like. Unlike some people.

A kilo of meat seemed a bit excessive for the two of us so we invited Mark and Steffi, my favourite Viennese couple, over. I told F that maybe we could play Scrabble while the meat cooked and then have a late lunch around two if that was good for them. He got the wrong end of the stick and phoned them to say lunch would be ready when they were due to arrive at one and reported back to me that Steffi had some work to do after so would have to eat and scoot.

Even though it was Sunday and we’d just watched two episodes of Lipstick Jungle in bed while these blueberry muffins, I freaked out. For. No. Reason. Yes, just because I am mental and I don’t like it when things don’t get to the table in time and I might look like a bad hostess. Sigh.

I mean, far be it from me to just, you know, communicate and come to some reasonable compromise. Lucky for me, F doesn’t scare easily and by the time they arrived the pork was in, the beans were topped and tailed and the potatoes boiled and smashed for a blitz in the oven. Ducks all in a row, check.

The upshot is, they came, we played us some Scrabble (and I won! both times! which improved my mood immeasurably since I am also an *insufferably* bad loser, something no-one who has ever had the misfortune to play any game with me will have failed to notice), the roast was done pretty fast after all and Steffi got home in time to finish her thang.

No biggie.

Are you prone to panic or do you take things in your stride?

Sage and Garlic Pork Belly Roast

This pork is also no biggie, with regards to preparation and cooking – you can pretty much bung it in the oven and walk away (though that’s not what I did – I hovered around anxiously, willing it to hurry – a fun activity I can also recommend highly for all the family) – though it does look rather impressive and Sunday-lunchish when it comes out of the oven. Oh, and though you don’t have to do much to it, it’s probably a good idea to be home while it’s in. You know, just in case the house burns down in your absence. It’s good, but not *that* good. It should serve about 4 or 5 people.

Dry the pork with paper towels so it’s not moist – this helps crackling to form. Score deeply into the skin, but not into the meat, in lines about 1 centimetre apart on the diagonal one way and then the other so you get a cross-hatched effect. Mix the sage, garlic, salt and pepper with the oil and rub into the bottom (not skin side!) of the meat, pushing the marinade into the cracks. Leave to rest for an hour out of the fridge, or overnight in.

If you left it in the fridge, take it out half an hour before you want to cook it and preheat the oven to 150 degrees. When it’s hot, wipe the meat off, put it on a tray and roast in the middle of the oven for 45 minutes to an hour. Then raise the heat on the oven to its highest setting and cook an hour or until it looks nice and crackly on top (after about half an hour of this is when I’d put the potatoes in).

Leave meat to rest. (This is when you should boil the beans). Pour the fat in the pan into a jar to cool (not down the drain – it’ll block up when the fat congeals) and then pour

into the roasting pan and deglaze the burny looking bits over high heat. I know they look burny but believe me, they’re caramelised meat nuggets, not charcoal. Strain and serve as gravy.

NB: I served this with this with the aforementioned boiled fat green beans (surely a recipe will not be necessary?) and smashed potatoes which you can find here: Pioneer Woman’s Smashed Taties. Actually, whether you don’t eat meat or just love potatoes, this is a great way to prepare them for anything. I imagine they’d be a great accompaniment to something beany too. Also, excuse my being so dictatorial about the timing of the sides but some people like that sort of thing.

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Tagged as: own recipe, pioneer woman, pork, sage