Slow-roasted pork belly and salsa verde

Serves 4-6

Being quite a fatty cut, pork belly responds best to long, slow cooking, leaving you with one of the most luscious pieces of meat imaginable. Serve with braised shallots or spring greens.

For the salsa verde

— a big handful of parsley leaves

— 1 tsp rosemary, finely chopped

— a small handful of mint leaves

— 1 garlic clove, roughly chopped

— 2 tbsp capers

— 12 anchovy fillets

— 1 tbsp Dijon mustard

— juice of 1 lemon

— 100ml olive oil

For the pork belly

— 2kg pork belly

— 2 onions, finely sliced

— a handful of rosemary and thyme

— 200ml dry cider or white wine

— 300ml chicken stock or water

Up to a day ahead

Make the salsa verde by thoroughly blending or finely chopping all of the ingredients apart from the olive oil. Slowly stir or blend in the oil and then season with pepper. Taste and add a little salt if necessary. Cover and chill.

4½ hours ahead

Using a very sharp knife – I use a scalpel – score the meat at 1cm intervals. Scatter some salt over the skin and leave for one hour. This draws out excess moisture and gives you crisper crackling.

Preheat the oven to 220C/200C fan/gas mark 7.

3½ hours ahead

Pat the pig skin dry and shake off any excess salt. Pile the onion and herbs in a roasting pan and lay the pork belly on top.

Roast the pork in the oven for 20 minutes, then turn the oven down to 160C/140C fan/gas mark 3 and roast for a further 2½ hours.

30 minutes ahead

Remove the pork and transfer to a carving board to rest. If at this point the crackling isn’t as crisp as you’d like, put the pork in a different roasting pan and back in the oven at 220C/200C fan/ gas mark 7 until crisp.

Tip away the excess fat from the original roasting pan, then put the pan over a high heat. Add the cider or wine and simmer for a minute or so, scraping up the pan juices, then add the stock or water and simmer for 10 minutes. Taste for seasoning and add a little salt and pepper if necessary. If you’ve been crisping up the crackling, rest the pork belly for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Dinner time

Carve the pork and crackling into nice thick chunks, top with a spoonful of the gravy and add a good dollop of salsa verde.