Pork belly, red quinoa, brussels sprout, apple

My former head chef in Canada, Melissa Craig, made the most beautiful ragouts from different combinations of braised or confit meats, grains and vegetables. They were, at the time, the most delicious preparations I’d ever tasted. I would even hang around her section trying to steal leftovers! This dish is an homage to the great techniques I learnt from Melissa.

Braised pork belly 2kg pork belly 2 onions, diced

1 leek, diced

2 carrots, diced 2 celery stalks, diced 1 garlic bulb, halved 50ml rice bran oil 500ml dry white wine 10 sprigs thyme 5 sprigs rosemary 2 bay leaves

12 black peppercorns 6litres chicken stock sea salt cracked black pepper

Red quinoa 2litres water 150g red quinoa sea salt

Method

Heat an oven to 120degC. Place the pork belly in a deep ovenproof tray. Heat a large heavybased saute pan over high heat. Add the rice bran oil. Once the oil is almost smoking, add the diced leek, onion, carrot, celery and garlic, then caramelise. Add the caramelised mixture to the oven tray.

Deglaze the saute pan with the white wine, dissolve the sediment from the meats and vegetables into the white wine and then pour the white wine into the oven tray. Add the herbs and peppercorns to the oven tray. Cover the pork belly in the tray with the chicken stock. Place a layer of baking paper over the

pork belly and then wrap the ovenproof tray in tinfoil. Place in the oven. Braise for six hours or until the meat is extremely tender. Remove the tray from the oven and allow the pork belly to cool in the stock. Once cool, remove the pork belly and separate the meat from the fat. Shred the meat finely with a fork.

Red quinoa

Place the water in a large pot, season with salt and bring to a boil. Add the red quinoa and turn the heat down to a simmer. Once the quinoa has cooked, strain through a sieve and place on a large tray in a thin layer.