PORK BELLY & SOMERSET VEG

Slow roasting meat is my favourite kind of roast. And slow roast pork belly almost tops them all. Add to that super fresh veg from Somerset via our local farmers market in Ealing and you're onto a winner. Eating this food, I wish every day was Sunday.

Serves 4

800g-1kg piece of free range pork belly
Tbsp fennel seeds
Salt
Half a bag of potatoes
3 onions
Half a tin of Red Stripe
Curly kale
1 garlic clove
Butter

3 hours before you want to serve your food, turn your oven on full. Get the pork belly out of the fridge, and using a sharp knife lightly score the skin side of the belly. Don't score it so deep that the knife reaches the meat. Rub salt into and all over the scored skin and salt and pepper the other side of the meat. Rub the fennel seeds into the underside of the pork. Put the pork belly into an unoiled roasting tray, turn the oven down to 200C and put the meat in middle of the oven.

After 30 minutes, turn the oven down to 180C. You can leave it for an hour now.

Once the meat has been in for a total of 1hr30, put a pan of water on to boil. Peel enough potatoes to make lots of mash and add to the salted boiling water. At this point take the meat out of the oven, tip the tray, scoop all the juices up with a spoon and smother over the pork belly. Add 3 quartered onions to the roasting pan and return to the oven.

Let the meat cook for another hour (so it has 2 and a half hours in total) and then grill under a high heat for 3 minutes until the skin bubbles up into amazing crackling. Remove the pork belly from the oven and pan, cover with a clean tea towel and leave to rest while you mash the potatoes and cook the curly kale. Put the roasting pan on the hob, add half a tin of beer (red stripe's my favorite!) and mix up with all the sticky onions and juices from the pan.

Wash the curly kale and chop into inch thick slices. Add to a pan with an inch of water, a knob of butter and some sliced garlic. Cook for 3 minutes or until the curly kale has reduced to about a quarter of its original state.

Drain and mash the potatoes. Add plenty of butter and mash til smooth.

Take the fat off the top of the gravy (running a piece of bread across the top of the gravy will absorb the fat off it) and pour over the creamy mash, crunchy curly kale and thick slices of pork belly and crackling.

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SQUID WITH VERDE POTATOES & GUACAMOLE

Squid is a very easy fish to cook. It takes minutes and as long as you ask your fishmonger to clean it for you, it is very easy to prepare. This is a nice light dish.

For 2 people

Half a bag of baby new potatoes
2 avocados
3 garlic cloves
Half a red onion
Handful of coriander
Juice of half a lemon
Olive oil
Bunch of parsley
Bunch of coriander
Handful of capers
3 squid
1 red chilli
Lemon zest

Put a pan of water on to boil for your potatoes. Clean small baby new potatoes. Add to the pan of water as soon as it starts to boil.

In a mixing bowl, squish the avocados, and  mix with 1 crushed garlic, finely chopped red onion, a chopped bunch of coriander, the juice of half a lemon, a drizzle of olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.

Take a jam jar and fill up to a quarter with olive oil. Add chopped parsley, coriander, a handful of capers and 2 crushed cloves of garlic. Put the lid on and shake vigorously. This is to drizzle over your warm baby potatoes once they're cooked.

Chop the squid into cm thick strips along the body and add the tentacles to the squid rings. Rinse all the squid and pat dry. 

Add crushed garlic, a thinly sliced red chilli and lemon zest of 1 lemon to olive oil in a frying pan and bring up to hot. Once sizzling, add all of the squid rings and tentacles. Stir fry for 1 minute, or until the rings have turned white rather than opaque. Remove from the heat, add a little chopped parsley, and serve with the verde potatoes, guacamole and a big squeeze of lemon.

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