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James St Cookery School: Pork belly with apple sauce, apple and pear crumble

James St Cookery School's delicious-sounding pork belly with apple sauce
James St Cookery School's delicious-sounding pork belly with apple sauce James St Cookery School's delicious-sounding pork belly with apple sauce

WITH apples are in abundance in gardens and in our cider county of Armagh, this week's focus is on apple-based recipes. I'm lucky enough to have customers with overstock of home-grown apples who often gift me spare fruit for cooking.

Apples are a great ingredient, whether for a main meal or dessert as they add a fresh sweetness to any recipe. In our James St restaurant we regularly use fresh apples for our chutney, to go along with our cheeses and Christmas menu. All you need is custard and that's Sunday sorted...

PORK BELLY WITH APPLE SAUCE

(Serves 8)

4kg boneless pork belly

15 sage leaves, chopped

3 garlic cloves, chopped

1 carrot, peeled, chopped

1 celery stick, cleaned, chopped

½ leek, chopped and cleaned

1 onion, peeled and chopped

For the sauce:

40g butter

4 large apples, peeled cored, diced

1 tsp lemon juice

50g caster sugar

Method:

Preheat the oven to 220. Score the pork belly crossways, deep enough for the skin to crack but not right through, then turn it over and season with salt and pepper, placing the sage leaves and garlic on top. Roll up the meat lengthways and tie with string.

Place the pork belly on a rack in the sink and pour freshly boiled water over the pork belly. Pat dry with a clean cloth, rub with vegetable oil and season with salt. Take the pork, still on the wire rack, place on to a roasting tray and place in oven. Cook at 220C for 50 minutes, then turn down the heat to about 160C and leave to roast for another hour.

Remove the pork from the rack then remove the rack from the tray. Add in the vegetables and coat in the fat of the tray. Place the pork on the vegetables and cook for another 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and let the meat rest for around 10 minutes; slice and serve.

For the apple sauce, melt the butter in a pot, add the apple, lemon juice and sugar and cook until the apples soften. Mix until the apples are puree-like. Add more sugar to taste.

POACHED APPLE AND PEAR CRUMBLE

(Serves 4)

6 apples

6 pears

1 vanilla pod

100ml fresh apple juice

For the topping:

250g of oats

180g of pecans (chopped, leave big for texture)

2 egg whites

2 tbsp icing sugar

Method:

Peel, core and chop the apples; place in a saucepan. Split the vanilla pod with a sharp knife, scraping the seeds into the pan, adding the pod also; add the apple juice. Simmer over medium heat for five minutes. Peel, core and chop the pears and add to the pot; cook for 3-4 minutes. Remove the vanilla pod (this can be washed and stored in the fridge for re-use.)

For the topping, preheat the oven to 180C. Mix the oats, pecans, egg whites and icing sugar in a bowl. Cook on a baking tray in the oven for 6-8 minutes until golden brown. Remove and leave to cool. When ready to serve, place the (warmed) poached fruit mix in a ramekin and spoon the crumble mix over it.