Twice Baked Pork Belly and Apple Pie
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 3.5 hours
- 1.2kg/2.6lb. pork belly
- 4 cups chicken stock
- Oil for frying
- 2 onions, peeled and diced
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled and diced
- 200ml/7flozs. cider or white wine
- 3 Granny Smith apples, peeled and cored
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon chopped sage
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 2 sheets shortcrust pastry, thawed in the fridge
- 1 sheet butter puff pastry, thawed in the fridge
- 1 egg yolk mixed with 1 tablespoon water
Step 1 - First cook the pork belly. Preheat oven to 150C/300F. Place the belly skin side up in a snug baking tray and pour 2 cups of the chicken stock around it. Roast uncovered for 1 hour. Then pour more of the chicken stock around it as some of it will have evaporated and place a sheet of oiled foil on top and roast for 1.5 hours covered.
Step 2 - Increase heat to 220C/440F. If you want crisp crackling, score the rind (it won't score deeply so don't worry) and then rub salt all over the rind. Place the pork belly on a rack and roast for 40 minutes.
Step 3 - Add some oil to a small frypan. While the pork is roasting, saute the onions and garlic until translucent on medium high heat. Add cider or white wine, apples, sage and bay leaves and cook off the alcohol for a few minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
Step 4 - While it is cooling, line a loaf tin with the shortcrust pastry just cutting the corners as shown. You can save these scraps to cut out patterns on top. Dock with a fork and place in the fridge or freezer.
Step 5 - Reserve the stock in the bottom of the pan. Remove the crackling from the pork and cut into pieces (to snack on). Most of the pork you can just pull apart from forks. Allow to cool and mix with the onion mixture. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Toss the mixture in the flour with 1/3 cup of the stock.
Step 6 - Bake the pastry base on 220C/440F for 10 minutes. Then place the cooled filling and top with the puff pastry layer. Brush with egg yolk mixture and bake for 25 minutes.