I bought four thick slices of pork belly earlier in the week, and then realised that I've never cooked pork belly before. I'm not a great fan of eating slabs of meat, so I rarely cook them. This became an exercise in winging it. I put the pork in a bowl of fennel seeds and apple juice for two days, while I looked up recipes. If in doubt, apple and fennel always work well with pork.
I didn't find a recipe I liked so in the end I took the pork out of its appley bath, patted it dry and just roasted it. I used the soaking liquid to make apple and onion gravy.
While I pottered around the kitchen sorting out the meat, listening to podcasts and laying the table, I opened one of the bottles of wine we brought back from France and I poured myself a glass. This enhanced the reflective nature of my Friday evening.
It has been a hard week; but then I looked out of the kitchen doors onto the garden and I realised that it wasn't raining, the pork was smelling very good, the gravy was looking magnificent, and the children had finished their homework already. I decided we would have cake for pudding.
feasting, wine and cake sounds like just what you needed after your week x
ReplyDeleteSounds lovely xxx (Thank you for your help the other night - due to weather and lack of time we didnt really get much done in London :-( - I so wanted to go to Kew and the Da Vinci exhibition near Buckingham Palace - but neither got done - by the time we had done the London eye and the Aquarium and the boys wanted to go to Hamleys didnt even have time to squeeze in any museum visits) - maybe next year. Or my hubby keeps threatening just the two of us on a trip to London - sounds great but I dont think they boys would let it happen lol ) xxx
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