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Braised pork belly with sage, bursts of potato and crudité of squash and dried cranberry

  • Preparation:
    40 minutes
  • Cooking:
    4 hours
  • Servings:
    4
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Arnaud Marchand
Arnaud Marchand Chef & co-owner Chez Boulay - bistro boréal, Quebec City

Ingredients

Pork

  • 1 3/4 lb. (800 g) pork trimmed, lightly defatted
  • ¼ cup (10 tsp.) coarse salt
  • 2 branches fresh thyme
  • 1 Tbsp. (30 ml) canola oil
  • 1 diced onion
  • 1 celery stalk, diced
  • 1/2 cup (125 ml) maple syrup
  • 1 cup (250 ml) white wine
  • 1 Tbsp. (15 ml) chopped sage leaves
  • 1 garlic clove, halved
  • 3 cups (750 ml) beef stock
  • 1/2 cup (125 ml) dried cranberries

Squash Vermicelli

  • ¼ small butternut squash, peeled
  • 1 Tbsp. (15 ml) cranberry seed oil
  • 1 Tbsp. (15 ml) cranberry vinegar
  • 1 Tbsp. (15 ml) pumpkin seeds
  • 2 Tbsp. (30 ml) dried cranberries
  • Salt and pepper

Potatoes

  • 2 cups blanched fingerling potatoes

Preparation

Pork

  1. Rub pork flank with coarse salt, place thyme on top, pack and refrigerate overnight.
  2. Preheat oven to 150 °C (300 °F).
  3. In a stew pot, heat the oil. Brown the onions and celery 3 minutes.
  4. Add maple syrup and reduce by half.
  5. Add the white wine and reduce by half again.
  6. Add the sage, garlic clove and beef stock.
  7. Bring to a boil, add the pork, cover and bake for 4 hours, until the flesh pulls easily with a fork.
  8. Remove pork, strain juice, add dried cranberries and reduce until a thick syrup forms. Set aside.
  9. Before plating, brown the fatty side of the pork until nicely coloured, deglaze with the filtered juices and serve.

Squash Vermicelli

  1. Using a mandolin, make very thin julienne strips of squash.
  2. In a bowl, combine pumpkin juliennes with cranberry seed oil, cranberry vinegar, pumpkin seeds and dried cranberries.
  3. Season with salt and pepper and let marinate for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Potatoes

  1. Heat a fryer to 175 °C (350 °F).
  2. Flatten blanched potatoes using the palm of your hand.
  3. Deep fry 3 to 4 minutes, drain well, season with salt and pepper and serve. If you do not have a fryer, you can roast in a pan, in a mixture of canola oil and butter.