Langoustines with chargrilled pork belly and tomato dressing
This takes surf and turf to another level entirely – pork belly slow-cooked in duck fat with langoustines cooked in lardo. Phew!
Ingredients
For the chargrilled pork belly
- 1kg/2lb 4oz pork belly
- 100g/3½oz salt
- 1 litre/1¾ pint duck or pork fat
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
- 1 head garlic
- 1 bay leaf
- few thyme sprigs
- 2 star anise
For the langoustines
- 6 langoustines
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 6 wafer-thin strips lardo
- black pepper, to taste
- 1 lemon, juice only
For the tomato dressing
- 4 ripe beef tomatoes, roughly chopped
- 1 red pepper, seeds removed, roughly chopped
- ½ cucumber, roughly chopped
- 1 banana shallot, roughly chopped
- 2–3 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp sherry vinegar
- 1 tsp sweet smoked paprika
For the garnish
- 1 handful mixed colour cherry tomatoes
- 1 Little Gem lettuce, cut thinly lengthways
- dash olive oil
- few basil leaves
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
The day before you want to cook, place the pork belly skin-side up on a plate or tray and pour over 100g/3½oz salt making sure it is well covered. Place in the fridge for 24 hours.
To make the grilled pork belly, wash the salt from the pork belly and pat dry. Heat the oven to 150C/130C Fan/ Gas 2.
Place the duck or pork fat in a casserole dish with the coriander seeds, garlic, bay, thyme and star anise, submerge the pork belly and cook for 1½–2 hours.
Remove the pork from the oven and allow to cool in the fat. Remove the pork belly and drain the fat (which can be reserved covered in the fridge for another recipe). Place the pork on a plate, cover with kitchen foil and place a heavy weight (such as a few tins) on top to flatten.
To make the langoustines, blanch the langoustines for 30 seconds in a pan of well salted boiling water. Refresh in a bowl of iced water, remove the meat from the shells and pat dry.
Heat a frying pan on a medium heat and add a little oil. Fry the langoustines until coloured all over. Lay the lardo over each, grind over some black pepper and a squeeze of the lemon and remove from the pan. Keep warm.
Slice the pork belly and heat a griddle pan over a medium heat. Chargrill on both sides, then carefully remove the skin and cook until it is crisp in a separate frying pan.
For the tomato dressing, blend all the ingredients together in a food processor or blender, taste and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Serve at room temperature.
To serve, spoon some tomato dressing into two bowls, dress the cherry tomatoes and Little Gem in the olive oil, with basil and salt scattered over. Top with some grilled pork belly and the langoustines.
