Roast pork belly with anise carrot purée and balsamic glazed carrots

  • medium
  • 4
  • 2 hours 30 minutes
Not yet rated

A wonderful combination of spice, sweetness and richness, Tom Aikens' mouthwatering pork belly and carrot recipe is perfect for a wintery weekend lunch.The anise carrot purée also makes a fantastic side with other mains.

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Pork belly and glaze

Balsamic glazed carrots

Carrot purée

Equipment

  • Food processor or blender
  • Fine strainer

Method

1
First make the pork belly glaze. Place all the ingredients together in a pan and reduce on a low heat until syrupy. Leave to infuse for a day before passing through a fine strainer
2
To make the carrot and star anise purée, heat a pan over a low heat and melt the butter. Add the carrots, salt, sugar, tarragon, thyme and star anise and cover with a lid. Cook for 8-12 minutes without colouring the carrots, stirring now and again
3
Add the stock and cream and cook at a fast simmer for approximately 20 minutes until reduced. Add the lemon juice and reduce further until thick and soft
  • 160ml of chicken stock
  • 80ml of double cream
  • 35ml of lemon juice
4
Remove two thirds of the star anise from the carrots as well as the thyme and tarragon. Place a third of the carrots into the blender with the star anise and purée until very smooth. Pass through a fine sieve
5
Purée the remaining carrots coarsely, mix together with the finely puréed carrots and cool until ready to serve
6
Pre-heat the oven to 180˚C/gas mark 4. Place the belly in a large medium hot frying pan with a dash of oil and sear on all sides until evenly browned. Warm through in the the oven for 30 minutes, season and then glaze generously with a brush
7
Reduce to oven to 170˚C/gas mark 3.5. Add the pork back to the oven for 1.5 hours, glazing every 20 minutes
8
Start the balsamic glazed carrots while the pork is roasting. Heat a casserole pan on a medium heat with the olive oil. Once hot add the butter. When the butter is golden, add the peeled carrots, star anise, tarragon, thyme, bay leaves, salt, pepper and sugar
9
Cook on a medium heat for approximately 10-15 minutes. Turn the heat right up so that they start to colour. After 3-4 minutes they should be a golden brown. Add the balsamic vinegar and cook until the vinegar has reduced by two thirds and is thick and syrupy
  • 140ml of balsamic vinegar
10
Drain the carrots and remove all the herbs. Use the reduced vinegar to reheat the carrots so they are nice and glazed when ready to serve
11
When the pork belly is ready, divide into 4 even portions and trim of any excess to create 4 even rectangular portions. Coat with the hot glaze and set aside
12
Heat the carrot puree and place down the centre of the dish, followed by the hot glazed pork belly and re-heated balsamic glazed carrots

Tom Aikens is one of the most creative and talented chefs Britain has ever seen, with a restaurant empire to match.

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