Crispy Roast Pork Belly with Homemade Potato Dumplings and Spinach
·Prepare the pork belly
First, prepare the pork belly for roasting. Using a very sharp knife, score the skin with straight cuts about half a centimetre apart. Rub the pork belly all over with salt, ground cumin and pepper.
Slice the garlic
Push slices of garlic into the scored cuts. About three cloves should do it.
Roast
Place the meat in a roasting tray, skin side up. Don't add any liquid and don't cover it. Put it into an oven preheated to 220°C and roast at this higher temperature for about 15 to 20 minutes. Then lower the temperature to 130°C and continue roasting for at least two hours.
Add the onion
After an hour of roasting, add onion cut into wedges to the tray. Open the oven from time to time and baste the pork belly with the rendered fat. The total roasting time will depend on how thick your piece of pork belly is.
The meat should be falling apart
You'll know the pork is done when it's almost falling apart. At the lower temperature it will need at least two to three hours. Once roasted, take the pork belly out of the oven and let it rest for ten minutes before slicing.
Boil the potatoes
Boil the potatoes in their skins in salted water. While still hot, peel them and pass them through a fine grater or a potato press. Put the potatoes in a bowl, add the egg and half of the flour. Mix together and add more flour as needed.
A slightly sticky dough
Don't overwork the dough – don't worry if it stays a little sticky. If it were firm and dry, the finished dumplings would end up too dense instead of light and fluffy, the way they should be.
Cut the dough into pieces
Shape the dumplings from the dough straight away, as potato dough tends to get watery if left standing. On a floured surface, roll it into a rope about 1.5 to 2 cm thick. Using a knife, cut off pieces about 2.5 to 3 cm long.
Boil the dumplings and prepare the spinach
Drop the dumplings into boiling salted water. They're done as soon as they float to the surface. Scoop them out and serve with the meat and spinach. As the pork belly nears the end of its roasting time, start preparing the spinach.
Sauté the onion and spinach
Melt a bit of lard in a pot and sauté the onion until translucent. Add chopped garlic, to taste, ideally about 2 to 3 cloves. Stir and cook together for a moment. Add in the spinach.
Reduce off the excess liquid
Season with salt and pepper. The spinach only needs a few minutes to wilt. Pour in the cream and let it simmer a little longer. The spinach shouldn't be too thin – if needed, turn up the heat briefly to boil off the excess liquid, which will thicken the spinach nicely.