Pork belly, noodle and cabbage soup

This is a really tasty and spicy soup but you can make it less spicy if you like. Make sure you cook the pork belly for long enough on a low-ish heat so that it melts in the mouth.

For two people:

Roast a small piece of pork belly in advance. We did it the night before when we were cooking a roast anyway. Before you roast the pork, rub plenty of chinese 5 spice and a diced hot chilli into the flesh side. Once it's roasted (on a low/medium heat for about two hours), remove the crackling and eat it as a snack if you're greedy like us!

For the soup, fry a pack of shitake mushrooms in a little oil. After a few minutes add 3 diced spring onions and then 750ml of chicken stock. Then add a table spoon of mirin, a table spoon of light soy sauce and half a tea spoon of sugar. Allow to simmer for 5 minutes before adding some shredded savoy cabbage and the pork belly cut into slices. After another few minutes taste the soup... you may want to add a little more soy, some dried chilli flakes or a little more chinese 5 spice. Now add a packet of ready cooked noodles and continue to simmer until the noodles are warmed through.

Serve in warmed bowls with sesame oil and extra soy sauce on the side for people to add if they wish.

Turkey, pancetta and sage risotto

Perfect Autumn food... Fry a diced onion with a clove of garlic in olive oil until softened. Add the pancetta, turkey (we used breast) and a handful of sliced chestnut mushrooms. Once the turkey has browned add the rice and keep adding white wine and stock until the rice has cooked. Add some chopped sage leaves and some green beans (chopped into three chunks) to the pan about 10 minutes after you've added the rice.

Check the seasoning and finish with a swirl of double cream and top with grated parmesan to serve.

Chinese 5 spice pork scratchings

A perfect snack whilst watching the football with a bottle of beer

Ingredients:

top layer of a small square of pork belly

tea spoon of chinese 5 spice

sea salt

oil (olive or sesame)

• Pre heat the oven to 200 degrees
• Cut the pork belly skin into bite sized pieces and put in a mixing bowl. Mix with a splash of oil, the Chinese 5 spice and a good pinch of sea salt.
• Then place the marinated pork in an oven tray and place in the pre heated oven
• Roast for approx 30 minutes until they start to look like pork scratchings
• For extra crunchy scratchings place under the grill for the last 5 minutes

Rillettes

This was the first time we'd made rilletttes but it definitely won't be the last. We researched various recipes before coming up with a combination which we liked best. We had ours with hot toast and cornichons. Chutney is optional but I think it would have gone nicely with an apple or caremelised onion chutney.

Ingredients (makes about 4 greedy portions):

1 square of pork belly (approx 10cm by 10cm)

2 duck legs

1 bay leaf

leaves off 2 thyme sprigs

3 garlic cloves

1 large glass of white wine

tea spoon of mustard seeds

salt and pepper

• Pre-heat the oven to around 160 degrees
• Place the pork and duck legs in a roasting pan
• Add the herbs, garlic (peeled but not chopped), mustard seeds, seasoning and finally the wine.
• Cover loosely with foil and cook for approx 2 hours. Turn the meat over after an hour.
• Once cooked, drain the fat/liquid into a bowl and reserve.
• Using two forks, pull the duck off the bone and gently shred the pork belly into bitesized pieces. Mash the soft garlic into the shredded pork and duck mixture.
• Press the meat into ramekins and leave to cool slightly.
• Once cooled spoon the reserved fat on top of the meat in a thin layer (if the fat has started to solidify just warm it through gently in the microwave for 20 seconds).
• Place the ramekins in the fridge for at least an hour before eating but it is best to cook them a day before you want to eat them. I'm told they last a week in the fridge but I wouldn't know!