It’s Sunday night and it’s the first day of October that’s under 10°C, I’ve done nothing all day but cosy up inside. Now it’s time for dinner and the only real option is a roast. If you live on your own or have ever lived on your own, you know a roast can just feel so out of reach. Too many dishes, too much food, too much effort.
I’m here today to tell you, it’s possible! I successfully made a perfect pork belly roast for one person, and it was rich, warming and comforting. Most excitingly, it took hardly any effort on my part. If you’ve made a standard roast for a family of four or five, you know the hardest part is the timing and oven space. When you’re cooking for one, space is really not an issue. Timing is of course important, but I’m about to take all the guesswork out of that.
The Meal
Sunday dinner – Slow roast thyme and garlic pork belly slices with roasted autumn vegetables and creamy mashed potatoes.
My recipe for slow roast pork belly is adapted from my brother’s pork belly roast he made for the family last year. The trick was to seal, the meat part only, firmly in foil so that it cooked in its own fat and juices and stays moist and flavourful, leaving the skin and fat on the top exposed. The crackling on top becomes nice and crispy instead of staying gelatinous and sad (unless you like this, in which case, cover the pork belly entirely). Roasting vegetables at the same time as the meat maximises oven usage and means less dishes to use. I went for some mini squash, leek and onion.
Normally I’m firmly in the roast potato camp, however, there isn’t anything much in the way of juices to make gravy with pork belly. I could have made an onion gravy, but that felt too much like effort, so to have a more smooth or a different texture I went with creamy cheesy mashed potatoes. It went together excellently, I cannot tell a lie!
Ingredients
So for this I used Lidl pork belly slices, it came with 5, and the roast was so good I did it on two nights, and had two on one night and three on the other. Off the top of my head it was around £4.50 for the pack, so whilst not cheap, for a splurge Sunday meal, not extortionate. You want to make sure they have a nice layer of fat on the top for maximum crackling and flavour. To cook, salt all sides of the pork. Then I had a piece of foil, with a piece of greaseproof paper over the top. I laid out two peeled whole garlic cloves on the paper, and some thyme stems, and then bunched the pork slices together on top. Then fold the foil and paper around the pork so its secure and as little juice as possible can escape. Leave the fatty tops exposed. Finally, score the fat on top and sprinkle with flaky sea salt. I had a roasting salt mix from the Cornish Salt Company which was perfect. I also drizzle a little olive oil, but that’s probably unnecessary. Put the foil parcel in a dish, or on a baking sheet, because each time I’ve tried this it does still leak, and no one wants to clean that off of their oven.
I also had a Lidl mini squash and leeks. Mini squashes are super cute! I just cut mine into quarters and scooped out the seeds of one quarter to roast, you don’t even need to peel it, you can then scrape the cooked squash flesh out when you eat. Peeling squash is painful and feels like a recipe for cutting yourself, so I just don’t bother. I also sprinkled it with smoked paprika and drizzled in olive oil.
For the leek, I chopped the top couple of inches off, and then in half, so I was left with a 6 inch (ish) or 15cm piece of leek. I then peeled off the first couple of layers of the leek which is where dirt tends to hide, then I roasted the whole thing. When it’s done, you can peel off the next couple of layers, and you’re left with buttery soft leek. It’s the easiest and best way to cook them in my opinion. The only thing to mention is, you probably need quite a substantial leek. A thin one won’t survive you peeling off so many layers.
Pork Belly Roast Timings
As previously mentioned, the timing of a roast is imperative. So, I did an hour slow cook with the pork on 150°C and then the last 30 minutes on high temp, when I also popped the vegetables in the oven. While the pork is slow cooking you can prep all the vegetables, but there was barely any as I went for big chunks to minimise preparation time. I also peeled and diced my potatoes and left them in a saucepan of cold water. Then you can go and chill for 45 minutes whilst the pork slow cooks. Once your hour is up, bung in the veg and up the temperature to 200°C for 30 minutes.
When you have 10 minutes to go, boil a kettle, drain the cold water off the potatoes and get them on a boil. As long as you’ve diced the potatoes quite small, think 2cm chunks then they’ll cook pretty quickly, 10 minutes or so. If you wanted some green vegetables like broccoli or beans, I stick them in with the potatoes for the last 5 minutes because I don’t want to use another pan. Once you can smush a potato chunk with a spoon against the side of the pan, they’re good enough to mash. Drain them all, separate out any veg if you have it and get to mashing. Or whisking in my case as I don’t have a potato masher. Make sure to add generous amounts of butter and milk for optimal richness.
The pork can do with a bit of a rest before you eat it, so I’d suggest taking it out just before you mash the potatoes, this will give it time to reabsorb some of the juices it lost when cooking and makes sure it’s nice and moist. I’m sure a professional chef would say it needs resting more, but then it’s cold. Around 2-5 minutes is good as they’re such small pieces of meat. I did also pour over the leftover liquid once I’d plated up, but I’m 99% sure it was pure fat so that might ick you out. Up to you on that one.
Final Notes
Honestly this was a revelation. You need to try it! It was so super easy, and I had the nicest meal. To be honest, once you’ve mastered it, the whole meal scales up really well. You’ll just have to google cooking times of the meat with a big joint, because it would take at least double the time.
I’ll have a chicken, lamb edition coming soon. I haven’t figured out a one person beef roast yet, but we’ll make it happen don’t you worry!
Recipe – Pork Belly Roast
1 Hour 45 minutes – Serves 1 – 1 x Baking sheet & 1 x Saucepan
2 or 3 pork belly slices
2 Garlic cloves
5 sprigs of thyme
Sea Salt Flakes
¼ of a small squash
½ a big leek
1 Onion
1 tsp Smoked Paprika
2 medium potatoes
50ml Semi Skimmed Milk
20g Butter
20g Cheddar Cheese
Preheat the oven to 150°C
Salt the pork slices with fine salt.
Lay out a piece of foil and greaseproof paper the same size on top, both big enough to fold around the pork and seal tightly.
Peel two cloves of garlic. Lay on the paper and foil, add the thyme stems. Put the pork on top, fat side up.
Fold the foil and paper around the pork so its tight to the pork, leaving the tops exposed.
Score the fat on top lightly, drizzle with a tiny bit of olive oil and sprinkle with a tiny bit of sea salt.
Put on a baking sheet, or in a mini baking dish. Put in the oven for an hour.
Prep the Squash, Leek and Onion. Scoop the seeds out of the squash and sprinkle with paprika. Peel the outer couple of layers off the leek and chop the onion in half with the skin on.
Peel and chop the potatoes into 2cm chunks and put in a saucepan with cold water.
When the pork has been in an hour, turn the temperature up to 200°C and add the squash, leek and onion to the baking sheet the pork is on, or on it’s own separate baking sheet. Make sure the onion is skin side down. Add a tiny bit of olive oil if desired, but it’s not necessary.
Cook for 30 minutes at the high temperature.
10 minutes before the meat and vegetables finish, boil a kettle, drain the cold water off the potatoes and boil them for 10 minutes. Drain the water after 10 minutes, or once a potato chunk smushes against the side of the pan with only a little pressure. Let the potatoes steam off in the saucepan.
Take the meat out and let it rest.
Add butter and milk to the potatoes. Mash. Add the cheddar cheese grated, and mix in until melted.
Take the vegetables out of the oven, plate up and enjoy!!
Love Fern
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