Pork Belly Soft Tacos

I'm the worst food blogger when it comes to taking photos of what I cook and blog about.  I'll confess, it's mostly because I try something new…have to taste it, end up finishing the dish in question, and then decide to blog about it.  By the time the blogging decision is made, the food is long gone.  You'll have to trust me…these pork belly soft tacos were amazing.

The inspiration for this dish came courtesy of one of my cousins, who posted about making homemade salsa and then shared her method.  Well, I made the salsa on Saturday and it was one of the best salsas I have ever had.  I'm one of those people who hates coriander/cilantro…so when making my own salsa I was able to leave it out.   (For the record, the method is just roast a bunch of tomatoes, onions, peppers and then seed and peel and puree in the food processor….the simplicity belies the deliciousness.)  What goes better with a beautiful homemade salsa than a nice soft taco?!

For the pork belly, take a 500 gram belly of pork and remove the skin keeping the fat layer intact.  Rub the skin with salt and cook for about twenty minutes in a HOT oven….and then crunch up the crackling and put in reserve for a porky garnish on the tacos.

Once the crackling is out, turn the oven down to 200C.  While the oven is cooling off a bit, prepare the pork belly.

I scored the fat layer, and put the pork belly fat side up on a rack in a roasting pan.  For the seasoning mix I used:

1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder (not garlic salt!)
1 1/2 teaspoons cumin powder
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons sea salt
cracked pepper to taste

Reserve about one teaspoon of this season mix to stir through some rice for the tacos.

Rub the seasoning mix all over the pork belly, and put in the oven uncovered for about 30 minutes until the pork is fairly golden all over.   Pull the pork out of the oven and cover with foil, and return to the oven.  The temperature should be lowered to about 160C….now is when the magic slow roasting begins.  The pork belly should slow roast for about 1 1/2 hours, but keep an eye on it.  If your piece is smaller or thinner…it might require less time.

Towards the end of the pork cooking time, prepare a small pan of rice (1/2 cup of long grain rice to 1 cup of water…cook for about 15 minutes).  Once the rice has cooked, fluff it up a bit with a fork and then sprinkle the reserved one teaspoon of spices over the top and recover.  Just before making up the tacos, stir the rice and the seasoning will mix through it.  If you are so inclined, some coriander/cilantro would potentially be a nice addition to the rice.  Not on my watch!

I served the tacos in nice soft flour tortillas…start with a small amount of rice, a bit of grated cheese, the pork belly, some salsa, some lettuce and tomato (chopped finely) and then finish off with a sprinkling of pork crackling.

These taste particularly nice on a warm summer's evening, with a cold beer while sitting in a hammock. Consider that a serving suggestion!

Enjoy!

Easy Coffee Ice Cream

One of my favourite wedding presents was a beautiful refrigerative ice cream machine.  That machine churned out many wonderful delights, but died a sad death in 2013.  The silver lining I found in this was that it clearly meant that Anthony and I have been together for a long time!  I haven't brought myself to buying a new ice cream machine, as I only really want one of the professional machines and we have had a lot going on this last year.  I have tried some semi-freddos, but haven't loved the texture of them….I'm pretty picky and I was spoiled by my professional machine.

Until now.

I owe an enormous culinary debt to Nigella Lawson. She's clearly had a tough year, but my love for her still burns bright.  I was flipping around the channels during the holidays… and saw Nigella making an ice cream.  It looked beautiful, and I trusted her when she said the texture was amazing.  So, last night I decided to give it a go and today we tried the fruits of my labour.  It was AMAZING.   I made a few modifications to Nigella's original recipe, so here is what I did.

Ingredients:

600 mls thickened cream
1 can (395 grams) sweetened condensed milk
4 Tablespoons instant espresso granules
4 Tablespoons Kahlua

Method:

In either a stand mixer (with the whisk attachment) or with a hand mixer, whip the cream and condensed milk until well combined.  Add the espresso granules and the Kahlua, and whip until soft peaks form.  It took a bit more than five minutes of whipping for this to come together.  All of the coffee granules should be dissolved.

The alcohol in the Kahlua is part of the magic that keeps this ice cream soft and creamy - it prevents the mix from freezing hard.

Scoop the mix into a 1 litre container, and pop in the freezer.  It will take at least five or six hours to freeze.  I can promise you, the texture of this ice cream is amazing and the flavour is divine.  I served this with a bit of fudge sauce, which was a nice flavour match with the coffee.  Eating it straight out of the box is completely acceptable too...

Enjoy!