LAWRENCE MURPHY: Spicing up the top of the summer crops

SPICY COURGETTES WITH PORK BELLYServes 4
Serving your courgettes with pork belly makes for a hearty main dishServing your courgettes with pork belly makes for a hearty main dish
Serving your courgettes with pork belly makes for a hearty main dish

In August we should expect to eat fennel, broad beans, kohlrabi and salad leaves with our summer fruits, but this year’s bumper crop must go to the courgette.

It may be because of the sun and rain that we’ve had that has helped this vegetable to blossom, I’m not sure, but everyone who is growing them has said they have had a great harvest.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

I’ve seen Dawn, from one of the local pubs, giving out both green and yellow varieties as she has too many to eat herself.

Many people have experienced an overcooked or poorly cooked courgette and have been put off eating them, but they can be fresh, tender and crisp, bringing something lovely to a plate of food.

If you’ve had just about as much ratatouille as you can eat this year, try this slightly spicy, sweet courgette dish which I served with roast pork belly.

Ingredients

1kg pork belly, scored

2 onions, sliced

8 cloves garlic (6 sliced, 2 finely chopped)

12 cloves

4 star anise

200ml water

100ml apple juice

Sea salt

5 small courgettes, cut into 1cm pieces

Bunch fresh mint, chopped

2 bird’s eye chillies, finely chopped

3tbsp light soya sauce

1tbsp honey

Method

1. Put the sliced onion, sliced garlic, cloves, anise, water and apple juice into a shallow casserole dish.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

2. Put the pork belly on top, rub with a little oil and sprinkle with sea salt.

3. Cover with a lid or foil and cook for two hours (170C, gas 4)

4. After two hours, remove the cover and cook for a further 90 minutes. Add a little more water if neccessary, and allow to rest while you cook the courgettes.

6. Heat a large frying pan and add a little olive oil. Add the courgettes and cook for 30 seconds.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

7. Add the chopped garlic and chilli and cook for anther 30 seconds.

8. Add the honey, soya sauce and the juices left from the pork.

9. Add the mint and stir, before placing into four warmed bowls. Carve the pork and place on top of the courgettes.

Lawrence’s restaurant is Fat Olives, Emsworth. Visit fatolives.co.uk or call 01243 377 914.

Related topics: