Knowing that Jacques of Le Litteraire would be closing up and going off for vacation for 2 weeks, I asked him to have the butchers at the slaughter house cut me a few slabs of American ribs like the last time.
Mind snatched by his upcoming vacation he either misunderstood me or just couldn’t concentrate 🙂 When I came to pick up the ribs, he had gone on vacation but left them in the Litteraire fridge for me, I saw that he had given me an enormous, beautiful piece of skin trimmed pork belly. Bummer, but not a wrist slashing disappointment.
M. Parret gave me a rolled roast of sanglier (wild boar) that he wanted me to make for Sunday’s lunch but I didn’t feel like making wild boar, so I put it in the freezer for another day, cut the pork belly in half and made that instead. No complaints. Although I did think he sliced the meat savagely, but with his really primitive knives, what could he do 😀
Funny, but the way I made this meal was sort of in a can’t be bothered way but not exactly. More like, whatever. I took out my red tajine because I like it very much, then tossed some onions with rosemary sprigs, olive oil and dried sage and placed them on the bottom.
I slashed the fat of the belly diagonally, rubbed in various dried herbs, salt and pepper, then placed it on top of the onions. That was sorted!
I took out some vegetables from the fridge, cut them chaotically and put them in a pan to roast with some herbs and olive oil. I poured myself a Petit Chablis and turned on the country western music 🙂
Pork Belly Surprise
1 large piece of pork belly, skin off
Assorted dried herbs (thyme, sage, cumin or whatever)
Salt and pepper
2 onions, cut into eighths
1 tsp dried sage
1 tbsp olive oil
3-5 fresh rosemary sprigs
Cut the fat of the pork belly in diagonals, then rub in the herbs, salt and pepper. Mix the onions, sage, olive oil and rosemary sprigs together, then place in the bottom of a tajine or baking pan.
Roast for 1 hour 15 minutes at 350 F, then turn the oven up to 425 F for the last 30 minutes.
Roasted Vegetables with Fennel
2 bulbs fennel, sliced
1 aubergine, cubed largely
1/2 red bell pepper, cut into large squares
1/2 green bell pepper, cut into large squares
1 onion, quartered
2 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
Assorted dried herbs
Salt and pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
Mix everything together then roast in the oven at 425 F for 30-35 minutes, stirring half way.
As always I love your style, roasting and wine are the perfect combo!
Thank you Terry.
Two delicious looking dishes and of course, excellent pictures. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you Editors.
ROFL – Pork belly surprise and chaotic vegetables 😉
I look forward to the sanglier roast on a later date…
Soon 🙂
Pork belly is always a nice surprise.
It was but I still want American cut ribs.
Looks amazing, and I love the colors!
http://www.khoasinclair.co
Thank you Khoa.
Looks really delicious with that crispy top 🙂
Thank you Rekha. I was hoping the top would be crispy but you never know 🙂
Rosemary with potatoes and meat… love that combo… I also add thyme to those combos
Thank you chef. I can’t wait until spring for all fresh herbs.
Blimey, well as you say, Rosemary, things could be worse. Significantly worse. And this dish does, of course, look wonderful. I think I’d actually prefer it to ribs.
Thank you Frugal.
According to my wife (and chief-taster) I’ve made some of her favourite dishes when I’m in the same sort of mood. Maybe I try too hard sometimes 🙂 Looks lovely.
Thank you Phil. Sometimes I’m just not feeling it but things come out okay.
Beautiful – I hope you danced round the kitchen to the music with that glass of wine in hand…I would have done 😉
And sang too 🙂
I have some pork belly in the freezer that I hope to make this weekend. I’ve only had it once before and it was amazing. But it will be my first time cooking it so fingers crossed! 🙂
Good luck! I know it will be delicious.
Oh I wish I had a butcher that would surprise me with pork belly. Your meal sounds very flavorful.
Thank you Karen.
Oh, Rosemary, what a wonderful surprise. I love pork belly even with chaotic veggies. 🙂 This looks divine. I love ribs but I’m real partial to slow smoked barbecue ribs; whereas, (to me, at least) pork belly is a little more versatile. I just love pork belly and my butcher can make a mistake selling me pork belly almost any time except Independence Day or Memorial Day – those are definitely smoked ribs days. 🙂 It’s too cold today for smoking ribs but Stefan and Kees (http://stefangourmet.com) are to be here Friday so I’m hoping for warmer weather by then. I have promised them a taste of Texas, New Mexico and Mexico with my own twist. 😉 Maybe I’ll smoke a pork belly, too.
Smoking is a good idea but I need to wait until the weather warms a bit.