On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me… CHRISTMAS ROAST PORK WITH RIB GRAVY AND APPLE BREAD SAUCE

You will need...

FOR THE ROAST

• 2 kg pork belly (depending on how many people you plan to feed)
• 3 tbsp salt

FOR THE GRAVY

• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 4 pork ribs
• 2 onions, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped in big chunks
• 1 litre chicken stock
• 8 black peppercorns
• fresh bay leaves
• fresh thyme

FOR THE SAUCE

• 1 litre milk
• 1/2 onion
• cloves (around 5)
• 2 apples
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 150 gr breadcrumb
• 100 gr butter
• 3 tsp cinnamon

ROAST PORK

1. Place the pork belly in a tray.
2. Dry the meat as well as you can with a paper towel and then rub in salt.
3. Ideally, you would let it stay in the fridge overnight, but if you don’t have enough time, set it aside for at least one hour.
4. Roast the pork belly for 30 minutes at 250°C, before turning the oven down to 150°C and roasting for another 90 minutes
5. Serve!

RIB GRAVY

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan. Add the pork ribs and fry for 5 minutes or until caramelised.
2. Remove the ribs from the pan and add in the onions and carrots.
3. Pour over the stock and bring to a boil. Try to scrape in all the burnt bits from the bottom of the pan.
4. When the mixture starts boiling, add the ribs back in. Add the peppercorn, bay leaves and thyme. Continue simmering for 1½ hours.
5. Remove the meat form the ribs and return in into the gravy mixture

APPLE BREAD SAUCE

1. Heat the milk in a saucepan. Add the onions and the cloves. Add one of the apples and the cinnamon stick.
2. As the milk starts boiling (bubbling), turn the heat off and let infuse.
3. Once infused, remove the apple, onion, cloves and cinnamon stick.
4. Add the breadcrumbs and butter to the infused milk. Reheat. Add the grated remaining apples and stir in the cinnamon