Saturday 23 January - Nopi Belly Pork

I bought myself the Nopi cookbook with some Christmas money I was given, and it is the most beautiful looking book that I own. We had a quick flick through, and found a recipe for Belly pork, on a bed of crushed butternut, with a really unusual sounding apple and walnut salsa. Not a combination I would think of, so thought it was worth a try


The pork was prepared by rubbing lemon into the skin, leaving to dry out, before rubbing with salt - this was supposed to guarantee a crispy skin.

The pork was placed on a bed of aromatics - ginger, lemon grass, thyme and lots of garlic.

It was then roasted at a high temperature initially, before wine and water were added and it was finished at a lower temperature for several hours.

The squash was roasted, before being crushed with the addition of butter, miso paste and rice wine vinegar.

The salsa was a mixture of chopped apple, toasted walnuts, pickled walnuts (provided by The Bytham Kitchen as a Christmas present. chopped tarragon along with Yuzu juice, mirin and olive oil.

The combination of ingredients in the Salsa would never have occurred to me, but worked really well with the fatty, crispy pork.