Crispy pork belly with potato and parsley sauce

This stunning looking (and tasting) dish comes from my colleague Frej. He’s from Denmark and this dish is a common pub meal around Christmas time. I reckon you don’t need to wait until Christmas to eat this – eat it any damn time you like!!

It’s pretty simple to make. All you need is pork belly and potatoes and a hot oven. Plus a lot of beer and some pickled beetroot if you can find it, or make it.

Ingredients

• 1 kg pork belly cut into thin strips
• freshly ground pepper
• sea salt

Fot the parsley sauce:

• 1 tspn of lemon juice
• 2 cups low fat milk
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• 3 tbspn flour
• bunch of parsley chopped
• 2 tablespooons butter
• potato water

Method

Preheat your oven to 225°C.

Cut the pork belly into very thin strips. If it’s too thick it won’t crisp up. Place the pork on top of baking paper in a roasting dish and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Put it in the pre-heated oven on the middle shelf.

Fry it crisp for around 30 minutes. You’ll need to pour the fat off several times and turn the pork so it doesn’t burn. Drain the pork on paper towels before serving.

While you are doing the pork soft boil the potatoes. Reserve some of the potato water to make the parsely sauce.

Chop the parsley finely. Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the flour stirring all the while. Add the milk and a little of the potato water, continually stirring to thicken. Season with salt, pepper and some lemon juice. You can also add a bit of the fat from the pork if your arteries will allow it.

Remove the pan from the heat and mix the chopped parsley through it.

Serve the pork and the potatoes with pickled beetroot, and a nice lager.

Enjoy.

Copyright: Image courtesy of Frej