EUROPEAN CUISINE

 Hello ladies and gents this is the Viking telling you that today we are talking about

Rolled ’nduja-stuffed pork belly

Ingredients

• pork belly cut from the thick end, 2kg after skinning and boning, skin well-scored
• blanched cobnuts or hazelnuts 100g
• fennel 1 bulb, hard stalks removed and diced into rough 1cm cubes
• olive oil
• fennel seeds 10g, toasted
• onions 2, roughly chopped
• garlic 1 bulb, cloves peeled
• baby leeks 500g
• ’nduja or skinned cooking chorizo 130g

Method

STEP 1

Salt both sides of the pork belly with several heavy pinches of salt and leave in the fridge overnight. Put the skin in the sink and pour several kettles of boiling  water over it. The scored lines will rise up  a little. Pat dry and chill uncovered overnight to fully dry it out (this will also help give superior crackling).

STEP 2

Toast the cobnuts or hazelnuts in a 160C/fan 140C/gas 3 oven for about 15 minutes until light gold. Take out, roughly chop and turn up the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4.Cook the fennel in a good glug of olive oil on a low heat with lid on until just softened.

STEP 3

Put the fennel seeds into a food processor with the onions, garlic, cooked fennel and ’nduja. Blitz hard until it forms a smooth paste then season.

STEP 4

Rinse the pork belly of all salt and pat dry. Lay with the flesh side facing up. Spread the ’nduja paste over the surface and sprinkle with the cobnuts. Try to leave an inch of space along each edge of the belly to reduce any overspill.

STEP 5

Starting from the long end, roll up the belly neatly. Take some butchers’ string and wrap the skin over the rolled belly – essentially exactly from where it was removed – and tie in place. A good butcher’s knot is not easy, so get a friend to help tie a strong double knot. Three or four knots, evenly spaced along the belly, should suffice. Two at either end and two spaced evenly towards the centre of the belly.

STEP 6

Using the ribs as a neat trivet, put the  pork in a roasting tray. Season and cook for 2 hours.

STEP 7

Parboil the leeks whole for 10 minutes. After 2 hours cooking, add the leeks to the tin and cook for another 30 minutes. The belly should be done after 2 1/2 hours but if the crackling requires longer, blast it for an extra 30 minutes at 200C/fan 180C/gas 6 (take out the leeks if you do this as they will frazzle). Remove from the oven and rest for 15 minutes. Serve on a platter with the leeks.

And as always have a chilled day from the Viking