Pork belly and sweet potato rosti, with pickled red cabbage, asparagus, and cider jus followed by rhubarb and honeycomb, with yoghurt and oat lace biscuits.
2023 - Keen Home Cook - Winner
Main
Ingredients
Pork belly
Pork belly
Seasoning: Wild garlic salt, fennel seed, juniper berries, fresh garlic, black pepper
Cooked on: Onions, celery, bay leaf, cider, and water
Rosti
Sweet potato
Onion
Garlic
Butter
Salt and pepper
Red cabbage
Salt
Pepper
Red wine vinegar
Honey
Mustard
Thyme
Cider jus
Onions, celery, cider, bay leaf and pork juices from the belly
Chicken stock
Corn flour
Salted butter
Method
Pre heat oven to gas mark 9.
Score rind of pork belly, and lay in a bed of chopped onions, celery, garlic, and bay leaves.
Pour boiling water over the skin, leave to dry.
Pat skin dry and season the crackling rind with wild garlic salt, and the meat below the rind with crushed fennel seed, garlic, juniper berry, wild garlic salt, and black pepper.
Add cider and hot water to the roasting tray.
Place on the top shelf in the hot oven and roast until crackling is crispy and golden, then reduce to gas mark 5 for 45 minutes.
Grate sweet potato and onion and squeeze to remove most of the liquid.
Mix with melted butter and scatter in a skillet.
Cook on a medium low heat until golden brown, then flip and cook the other side.
Shred red cabbage and add to a saucepan, add a small amount of water, red wine vinegar, salt, pepper, mustard, thyme and honey.
Cook on medium heat until al dente.
Take the pork off the onions to rest aside.
Add chicken stock and cider to the pan and cook on a medium high heat in the stove top.
Add cornflour and whisk.
Once reduced enough, add butter to finish, and strain into a serving jug.
Peel the bottom halves of asparagus and lightly fry in a pan, dress with olive oil, salt, pepper, and white wine vinegar.
Dessert
Ingredients
Rhubarb Vanilla Elderflower-infused gin
Triple sec
Caster sugar
Water
Gluten free oats
Gluten free plain flour
Golden caster sugar
Egg
Vanilla extract
Salted butter
Natural yoghurt
Icing sugar
Cardamom
Orange blossom water
Honeycomb (real honeycomb)
Bee pollen
Apple blossom and thyme flowers (I used rosemary flowers and thyme leaves due to season)
Method
Make a sugar syrup with caster sugar and water, bring to boil.
Add rhubarb batons, elderflower gin, and triple sec, then take off heat to infuse.
Biscuits:
Melt sugar and butter together in a saucepan over low medium heat.
Take off heat.
Add oats, flour, egg and vanilla.
Place one teaspoon of mix on a baking tray lined with parchment and bake on gas mark 5 for 5-7 minutes.
Yoghurt
Mix natural yogurt with ground cardamom, orange blossom water, and icing sugar.
Cut a cuboid of honeycomb and garnish with the bee pollen and herb flowers.