FLOWER POT KITCHEN: SWEET AND SOUR PORK WITH STICKY CARAMELISED PINEAPPLE

19 Jan 2017

SWEET AND SOUR PORK WITH STICKY CARAMELISED PINEAPPLE

SERVED WITH SUMPTUOUS COCONUT RICE...

Ooooh I like this too much...Crispy succulent, juicy belly pork, sumptuously covered with a fabulous fresh sweet and sour sauce then tossed with the most gorgeous caramelised sticky pineapple that extra wow can't talk gotta keep eating making this dish one of my top favourite comfort eats...

Prep Time 10 minutes / Roasting Time Un-attended 1 hour / Cooking Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

(serves 4 or in my case a greedy 2!)

Crispy Five Spiced Belly Pork

1 kg belly pork skin on and not fridge cold

1 tbsp sea salt

1 tsp five spice powder (recipe below)

1 onion roughly chopped

1 green pepper roughly chopped

1 carrot roughly chopped

1 pineapple cubed

2 cups basmati rice

2 cups water

2 cups coconut milk

Sweet and Sour Sauce

125g sugar

50ml pineapple juice

6 tbsp white wine vinegar

4 tbsp tomato ketchup

1 tbsp light soy sauce

Five Spice Powder

1 tbsp star anise ground

1/4 - 1/2 tsp whole clove ground

1 tbsp fennel seeds ground

1 tbsp cinnamon powder

1 tbsp sichuan peppercorns ground

Mix all the ground spices together and that's it, the clove powder is personal, I am not the biggest fan of clove but I know it has its place in flavour, so ideally 1 tbsp would be correct for this recipe but I just find that so over powering on my taste, therefore I have lowered it to what I find beautiful, so this is a taste experience for you to develop for your personal flavour...

The Sweet and Sour Pork

Pre heat your oven to 220 C / 430 F and place the roasting tray in the oven to warm up, meanwhile take you side of belly pork that ideally has been out of the fridge for at least an hour or two. Using kitchen paper pat the skin side so that it is completely dry. Rub in the salt and five spice all over the skin, this is the key to crispy crackling. Pop in the oven and leave to cook for 30 minutes then turn down the heat to 200 C / 392 F for the last 20 - 30 minutes. Once cooked remove from the oven and leave to rest on the side while you make the sticky pineapple and sweet and sour sauce.

When the pork has 20 minutes left to cook place the rice in a pan with the water and coconut milk, bring to a simmer, pop on the lid and leave on a gentle simmer for 10 minutes, do not at any point take the lid off or stir the rice, stirring rice makes it more glutinous and stodgy. When the 10 minutes is up just take the rice off the heat and leave for a further 10 minutes to finish cooking under its own steam.

While the pork is resting make the sweet and sour sauce, heat a frying pan to a medium heat, add the oil and the pineapple and sear the pineapple for a couple of minutes you want to catch the sides so that they brown up a little, then add the onions and green pepper and cook for a further minute, next add the sugar and stir in, leave the pan alone for a couple of minutes to allow the sugar to caramelise, but not burn, the sugar will change colour to a light brown, don't let it get to dark or it will become a solid caramel mass when you add the liquid! When the sugar has lightly caramelised add the pineapple juice and white wine vinegar, there will be an eruption of spitting bubbles, that's good, stir well next add the tomato ketchup, soy and stir in, if you feel the sauce is too thick add more pineapple juice.

Slice the crispy belly pork in to inch square bites and add to the sweet and sour sauce along with any rested cooking juices and your good to go, serve with your perfectly cooked coconut rice.

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LIFE MY PASSION

Welcome to my daily life of cooking, one winters day many years ago my family and I were all inspired by a back to back rainy day of River Cottage this got us to stop talking about and start actually doing, suddenly three weeks later eight vegetable beds were dug, greenhouse erected and our first vegetables were propagating, this was the start to raising and growing our own food, our fabulous son Oscar changed our path in life which lead us to sell our small thriving restaurant of 10 yrs and to start our new life (Terrifying!) a life of the self sufficient in touch with nature and seasons, taking a step back and looking forward to a slower change of pace and making the most of every moment.

My passion for cooking was stronger than ever and having time at home with Oscar I found I had a new direction and I was no longer striving for perfection, I was suddenly very passionate for the enjoyment of the other side of food, something I had not realised, being the Chef/Cook and every other duty of your own small restaurant made me see that I never actually took time to cook what I wanted!

So there I was muddy boots and hands digging deep in more than one sense and I found myself transported back in time to where everyone grew some of their own food, it is a wonderful world with a real sense of achievement and loss, Slugs Snails and Caterpillars! But thats another story! Childhood memories of summers when I lived with my grand parents reminded me of so much that I had learnt about the make do and mend generation that I had forgotten.

Now as a family we love our free wild food days where we gather what nature has provided, have gone from being mini mini garden urban small holders, who did raised pigs at home because we could not wait to find land and supporting ourselves from our garden to now owning a very small farm that allows us to grow more vegetables for the whole of our family and neighbours, raise our own gorgeous Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, (Sausages!) and pets! Dorset Down sheep, chickens for eggs and pet goats! Suddenly having large quantities of produce started to wake up the Cook in me!

The Cook was awake that part of me that wants to cook for the masses and I found myself setting up Flowerpot Kitchen, a Farmers Market Stall, I wanted to use our honest raised meats and make old fashioned pork pies, rabbit pies and game pies from the local game keeper along with old fashioned techniques and the best hot water crust pastry. This in turn grew to a small cottage industry from home weekly supplying three farm shops and a deli along with also attending three farmers markets A few years later there came a time when my son Oscar's health changed and it was an easy decision to stop.

I still hold the occasional pop up 40 seater restaurant or gourmet lunch which we do for local charities for the love of sharing food and to remind that Cook in me why I love our go slower self sufficient life!

So here I am sitting amoung the vegetables watching the chickens loving that every season nature teaches me something new and that nature is in charge! She has taught me to just go with it and grow. Give it a try from a tray of salad on your windowsill to a few tomato plants it all counts.