Slow Roasted Lamb Belly and Gravy Fried Kale

My local Tesco is awful. Video game designers looking  for a post-apocalyptic set to have mindless zombies roam around some poorly stocked shelves could model my local Tesco’s in a heartbeat. Despite its awfulness, they do have fantastic wine promotions that keep me coming back.

Sucker for a bargain bottle of booze, I popped in on Friday and saw lamb belly for sale. Pre-packed, rolled lamb belly. Now I’ve cooked pork belly before, but had never seen lamb belly. Unsurprisingly for a ‘forgotten cut’, it was priced very cheaply, and I couldn’t resist picking some up. Think I paid about €4.65 for the rolled belly, enough to feed 3 people.

Lamb belly is basically a thin sheet of meat, with a layer of fat, that when rolled up the joint has fat rolled outside and through it. So like most cheaper cuts of meat, this was definitely a candidate for slow cooking.  My thoughts were to cook it on a low heat  (about 120 degrees) for 4 hours and then blast it at a high heat (220 degrees) for about 45 mins to crisp up the outside. So into an oven tray, I chopped 3 large onions (red and white onions) into large segments, and coated in some olive oil. On top of the onions I put the lamb belly, which I had rubbed with za’atar (a middle eastern spice rub with sesame seeds, sumac, oregano and thyme). I turned the lamb and tossed the onions every hour. If it looks like the onions are drying out too much add a little white wine, or some water. After about 4 hours, drain all the meat juices to make the gravy and turn up the heat.

Normally I’d pan fry kale, or lightly steam it. Today while I was making the gravy, before it thickened,  I thought to try and braise the kale in the gravy. Separating the stalks from the kale leaves, I seared them on a dry pan, then adding some gravy to the pan, and cooked them in the gravy until the stalks are softened. When softened I added the shredded kale leaf and a little more gravy until the kale had wilted.

Gravy fried kale sounds as good as it tastes…. .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I served the lamb belly on the gravy fried kale, with the slow roasted onions. On the side, some mashed potatoes, though was tempted to add a tin of chickpeas to the kale and heat through instead of the spuds… maybe next time.

Also, don’t forget the mint sauce… lots of mint sauce.