Pork Belly with Mustard and Potatoes
A more organized blogger would follow her pork rib curry recipe with something other than a pork belly roast. You know, somebody who is not me.
A more organized blogger would also be on top of the weather report, realizing temperatures would soar into the high eighties this final week of October, making pork belly a less than appealing dish.
Nope, not me either.
A more organized blogger would also realize she posted a recipe quite similar to this one before she reached the proofreading stage of a post.
And to think, I used to pride myself on being an organized gal. In my own defense, while both dishes feature pork belly and potatoes, they are different enough to merit posting.
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This recipe has its origins in two Diana Henry recipes, both from Plenty: Thyme-Roasted Belly Of Pork with Baked Apples, and its variant, Spiced Pork Belly With Fennel, Chile, and Lentils. Here, pork belly is smeared with a paste of garlic, salt, pepper, fennel seed, lemon juice, Amora mustard, and cheap Armagnac.
Peeled potatoes–waxy or Russet–join the party, along with another garlic clove and a little liquid to keep the pot happy. Throw this in your oven for just over an hour. Serve some nice bitter green leaves alongside to cut the richness. Dinner.
While the pork benefits tremendously from marinating in this mustardy paste, if time doesn’t permit–perhaps you’re stuck at the tire shop–smear the marinade on just before cooking. All will be well.
Pork Belly With Mustard and Potatoes
Inspired by Diana Henry’s Thyme-Roasted Belly of Pork with Baked Apples, and its variant, Spiced Pork Belly With Fennel, Chile, and Lentils, both from Plenty.
Preparation time: Pork takes about 70 minutes to cook. Optional marination time: 4-24 hours
Serves: 2-4 people
1 piece pork belly, 1-1/2 pounds, ideally organic
2 large Russet potatoes, peeled and cubed, or 4-5 Red Bliss or other waxy potatoes, scrubbed and cut into small pieces (see notes)
For the mustard paste:
1 large garlic clove, peeled
2 teaspoons sea salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon fennel seed
Juice of one large lemon (Meyer if possible)
1 tablespoon Amora or your favorite strong mustard
1 tablespoon Armagnac or brandy
about 2 tablespoons olive oil, for the pan
1 garlic clove, for the pan
1 shallot or small onion, peeled and cut into chunks (optional, but an improvement)
1 cup water or unsalted chicken broth
salt and pepper
salad greens, to serve
Instructions
If you are able to marinate the pork belly ahead of time, it will benefit. Make the marinade (directions below), smear it over the pork, place it in a dish, cover with tinfoil or plastic wrap, and refrigerate 1-24 hours. Bring meat to room temperature before cooking.
Preheat oven to 350F.
You will need either a mortar and pestle or small grinder, a small bowl, and an oven-safe heavy lidded pan to make this recipe.
Peel or scrub potatoes, cube or cut into small pieces and hold them in a bowl of cool water.
Pound the garlic clove, sea salt, pepper, and fennel seed into a crumbly paste (or grind in spice grinder). Scrape into a small bowl.
Add the lemon juice and mustard. Stir together and taste; you might want to add more mustard. Add the Armagnac or brandy. Mixture will be liquid. That’s okay. Do your best to drip or smear over the pork belly with a spatula or your clean hands. Either leave pork to marinate, covered and refrigerated, or use immediately.
Make sure pork is at room temperature before roasting.
I use a Staub 4 quart “Everyday” pan to make this recipe. Staub pans require slow heating, so I started the pork stovetop, on low heat. You can do this, or just assemble ingredients and slide your pot into the oven.
Pour enough olive oil into your pan to cover the bottom. Add the pork belly, skin side up, and surround with potatoes. Add the garlic clove and optional sliced shallot or onion, if using.
Add water or broth to pan. Salt and pepper pork and potatoes. Cover and place in the oven.
Cook pork for 70 minutes, checking at the 30 minute mark. You may need to add a little water.
At the 45-50 minute point you may want to remove to lid to encourage browning; this isn’t the most colorful dish.
Check pork for doneness after an hour. I find it takes ten minutes longer. Pork is ready when it’s absolutely tender, offering no resistance to a knife. In my oven this is 70 minutes total.
Serve with additional mustard, if desired, and lots of fresh salad greens. We prefer naked greens, which we add to our plates, but dress with vinaigrette if you prefer.
Pork with mustard and potatoes will keep, refrigerated, up to four days. The pork may be frozen, well-wrapped, up to three months. It is not advisable to freeze the potatoes, as they will become mushy.
Notes: Be sure the potatoes are cut into cube-sized or smallish pieces, or they won’t finish cooking when the pork does. Alternatively, potatoes may be parboiled in salted water and added to the pork, but this adds work and dishwashing.
Pork belly with mustard and potatoes would also be delicious with any kind of cooked greens: mustard, collard, chard, broccoli di rape, or beet greens. Sweet potatoes would be wonderful here, too, scrubbed, sliced, and added to the pot. Any of the hard squashes would also work well with this dish.
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