Pork Belly Recipe Jamie Oliver

Ask your butcher: To remove the pork skin in one piece, ready to roast.

Get ahead: Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Tear the bay leaves into a pestle and mortar (discarding the stalks), and pound into a mush. Muddle in the spices and 1 teaspoon each of sea salt and black pepper, then loosen with a little olive oil so you can rub it all over the pork belly (leaving the skin as it is for now). Sit the belly in a snug-fitting roasting tray, cover tightly with tin foil and roast for 2 hours. Remove, cool and refrigerate overnight.

On the day: Preheat the oven to 200ºC. Season the piece of pork skin with a pinch of salt and pepper, then lay on a baking tray and roast at the top of the oven for 1 hour, or until golden and crunchy. Transfer the pork belly to a board, slice 1cm thick, then lay across a large baking tray (reserving the tray of juices for my Black beans & cheese, page 72). Roast the pork for 30 minutes, or until crisp, sizzling and golden. Carefully drain off any fat from the crackling tray and save in a jar for tasty cooking another day, then snap up the crackling. Serve up at the table with all the sides, ready for taco building.

Veggie love: Scrub 1 butternut squash (1.2kg), carefully halve it lengthways and deseed, then slice 1cm thick and toss with the spice mixture. Roast in a tray on the bottom of the oven at 200ºC for 30 minutes, or until soft and golden.

CALORIES 327kcal FAT 25.8g SAT FAT 9.2g PROTEIN 24g CARBS 0.2g SUGAR 0g SALT 0.6g FIBRE 0.4g