Recipe: Pork belly with butternut squash, pomegranate and chilli salad

Try out this delicious pork recipe served with butternut squash, pomegranate and chilli salad with candied beetroot. This delicious meal is chef-approved and guaranteed to please

Great British Life: Head chef at Acanteen, Simon Moore, shares his culinary skills Head chef at Acanteen, Simon Moore, shares his culinary skills (Image: Archant)

Simon Moore, head chef at ACanteen, lives in Danbury and joined the team at ACanteen only a month ago. Previously he was working for three large wedding venues including one in France. ‘I needed a new challenge and I missed working in a restaurant kitchen. In his new role the menu suits him well. ‘Here we do lots of rustic cooking using local produce and it’s the style of food that I cook at home. This pork belly recipe uses pork from Great Garnetts in Bishop’s Green, which gives it great flavour, and the recipe can be tweaked to make it suit the seasons.’ Here Simon shares his colourful pork recipe.

Ingredients

Serves 4

1 belly pork (1.5/2kg)

1 butternut squash

1 pomegranate

1 red chilli (de-seeded)

1 bottle of Aspalls dry cider

1 stem of parsley

4 candied beetroot or 4 normal if you can’t get them

Method

To prepare the pork, begin by scoring and seasoning the pork belly with oil and sea salt.

Place into a roasting tray and pour over a bottle of Aspalls cider, then cover with foil and cook at 160C for 2 hours. Take it out of the oven reserving the cooking juices for the gravy. Turn the oven up to 200C and return the pork belly back in for approximately 30 minutes until the skin is nice and crispy. Then take out of oven and allow to rest for 10-15 minutes.

To can prepare the butternut squash the day before to save time. Cut the squash in half, de-seed then cut into 1cm slices across the squash. Drizzle with olive oil and season, then place in an oven at 200C for between 20 and 30 minutes. Once cooked, allow to cool. Now add the seeds of one pomegranate and half a red chilli (de-seeded and thinly sliced). Drizzle with olive oil and set aside, or keep chilled if prepared the day before.

To prepare the candied beetroot, place in a pan of warm water and bring to the boil and simmer for 20-30 minutes or until tender. Then cool in cold water.

To serve, arrange the peeled and thinly sliced beetroot around the plate edge, place the roasted squash salad in the centre of the plate, then add a generous slice of the pork belly on top.

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ACanteen

35 New London Road

Chelmsford

CM2 0ND

01245 205889