Recipes: Tuscan fennel-rubbed pork

Pork belly is a bargain cut, so you can afford to splash out on outdoor-reared, good quality meat for this Italian classic

ents

• 2½ kg pork belly , skin scored
• 4 cloves garlic , crushed
• 2 sprigs rosemary , leaves finely chopped
• 1 tbsp fennel seeds
• olive oil
• 2 onions , thickly sliced
• 500ml white wine
• 2 tbsp flour
• 500ml chicken or vegetable stock

  

  1. Heat the oven to 220/fan 200C/gas 7. Make sure the pork skin is scored all over. If it needs a few more cuts then do them yourself with a craft knife or Stanley knife. Put the piece of pork in the sink skin-side up and pour over a kettleful of boiling water, this will make the skin contract and pull the cuts apart so you can get more flavour into them. Mix the garlic, rosemary and fennel seeds with a little olive oil and salt and rub this all over the pork skin.
  2. Lay the onion slices in a roasting tin and pour over the wine. Put the pork on top and cook for 30 minutes. Turn down the oven to 160C/fan 140C/gas 3 and continue cooking for 3 hours. Lift the pork off the onion and let it rest under foil and a tea towel. Pour off most of the fat then stir in the flour and cook it for a couple of minutes. Add the stock and bubble everything together to make a gravy, strain into a jug.

  Per serving

  474 kcalories, protein 40,3g, carbohydrate 11,1g, fat 27,2 g, saturated fat 9,7g, fibre 0,8g, salt 11,3 g