Roasted Pork Belly with Pea and Onion Rice - Chef Recipe by Charlie Carrington

Ingredients

“Lesser cuts of meat such as pork belly and lamb shoulder are part of the cool kids’ gang at butchers these days, but it can be daunting to be faced with a thick slab of belly fat. Use the following technique of slow cooking the meat overnight, then blasting it at a high temperature for a flawless result and perfect crackling every time.” – Charlie Carrington.

1kg premium pork belly
400g short grain rice
40mL grape seed oil
1 white onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp paprika
2 tsp salt
80g peas
40g spinach
40g parsley

Method

Pre-heat oven to 90 C (195 F). Put the pork belly on a baking tray and cook in oven for 10 hours (or overnight).

Let it cool, the skin should be crisp and sound hollow when you knock on it.

Raise the heat in the oven to 230 C, return the pork and roast for 30 minutes until the skin crackles.

During that last 30 minutes, wash the rice in a strainer until the water runs clear (this is the most important step).

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat and sweat the onion and garlic until translucent. Add paprika and 1 litre of water, add rice and bring to a rapid boil, then reduce to a simmer.

Cook for exactly 15 minutes with the lid on. Take off the heat and leave to the side covered, for 5 minutes.

Remove the lid and fluff the rice with a wooden spoon – be careful as steam burns. Mix through the salt, peas, spinach and parsley.

Turn the rice out onto a serving platter, roughly chop the pork belly and scatter over rice to serve.

Credits: This is an edited extract from The Atlas Cookbook – Charlie Carrington, published by Hardie Grant Books.

Photo Credits: This is an edited extract from The Atlas Cookbook – Charlie Carrington, published by Hardie Grant Books.