Caramelised pork belly with Strangford prawns and potato and bacon sauce

Ingredients

For the pork belly
800g/1lb 12oz pork belly
2 tbsp salt
2 tbsp caster sugar
1 litre/1¾ pint melted duck fat (tinned duck fat or goose fat is available from many supermarkets)
For the prawn sauce
8 large Strangford prawns, shells removed, de-veined (substitute other large prawns if unavailable)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp vegetable oil
½ carrot, chopped
1 celery stick, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 shallots, chopped
1 tbsp tomato purée
1 sprig rosemary, leaves only
1 sprig thyme
450ml/16fl oz white wine
For the crisp bacon
8 thin slices streaky bacon
For the potato and bacon sauce
50g/1¾oz butter
2 shallots, chopped
1 sprig rosemary, leaves only
150g/5¼oz smoked streaky bacon, finely chopped
140g/5oz potato, peeled, chopped
200ml/7fl oz whole milk
To serve
4 young spring carrots, peeled, boiled
4 asparagus spears, peeled, blanched
4 spring onions, fried for 2-3 minutes
dash olive oil

Method

1. For the pork belly, preheat the oven to 140C/285F/Gas 1.
2. Place the duck fat into a large roasting tray.
3. Season the pork belly with salt and sugar and place into the roasting tray. Transfer to the oven to cook for four hours, or until tender. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the duck fat.
4. For the prawn sauce, preheat the oven to 170C/340F/Gas 3.
5. Lightly season the prawns with salt and freshly ground black pepper, then vacuum pack in a vacuum bag.
6. Place the reserved prawn shells onto a clean roasting tray with the oil, carrot, celery, garlic and shallots and place into the oven to roast for 15 minutes.
7. Remove from the oven and add the tomato purée. Stir to coat and add the rosemary and thyme sprigs. Return to oven for a further 15 minutes.
8. Remove from the oven and place the roasting tray over a medium heat. Add the wine and stir to deglaze the tray, removing any brown bits from the bottom of the tray.
9. Transfer the contents of the oven tray into a large pan over a medium heat with 1½ litres/2¾ pints of water and simmer for 1½ hours. Skim the surface when necessary.
10. Strain the liquid through a fine sieve into another large pot. Place over a medium heat and boil until the volume of liquid has reduced to approximately 50ml/1¾fl oz. Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
11. For the crisp bacon, preheat the oven to 70C/150F/Gas ¼.
12. Place the bacon onto a baking tray and place into the oven to cook for 1-1½ hours, or until crisp.
13. For the potato and bacon sauce, melt the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the shallots, rosemary and half of the chopped streaky bacon. Fry for five minutes.
14. Meanwhile, boil the chopped potato in a large pan of boiling salted water until tender. Drain and pass through a ricer into a bowl until smooth (or mash until very smooth).
15. Add the milk to the mashed potato, mash again, and season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
16. Add the mashed potato to the bacon mixture and cook over a low heat for five minutes.
17. Strain the potato and bacon mixture through a very fine sieve, then spoon into a siphon ready to create a foam.
18. For the pork belly, heat the grill to its highest setting.
19. Trim the cooked pork belly and cut into squares of approximately 12cm/5in. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over a medium heat.
20. Add the pork belly squares and fry until golden-brown.
21. Transfer to a grill tray and brush with a little prawn sauce. Place under the grill to further caramelise.
22. Add the reserved chopped streaky bacon to the pan the pork bellly was cooked in and fry until golden-brown. Remove from the pan and drain on kitchen paper.
23. Place the vacuum-packed prawns into a water bath at 60C/140F and cook for 8-10 minutes, or until just cooked.
24. To serve, place the carrots, asparagus and spring onions into the centre of four plates and place two pieces of crisp bacon on both sides of each plate.
25. Place a pork belly square onto each portion of vegetables and crisp bacon. Place a cooked prawn onto each slice of crisp bacon and add a little potato and bacon sauce foamed from the siphon. Add a little prawn sauce onto each piece of pork belly.
26. Sprinkle the crisp chopped bacon pieces over the potato and bacon sauce and serve.