Anne Thorp's crispy skinned pork belly

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Dubbed "The Maori Queen of Cuisine" by P&O's marketers, chef Anne Thorp takes the title in her stride.

She says she doesn't make Maori food as such - though she loves her kaimoana and does a version of pork and puha that beats the old boil-up - but she cooks with the essential ingredient of aroha.

Thorp, a breast cancer survivor, says her lifelong love of cooking has also developed into a life-affirming diet.

She eschews butter in favour of oils and rarely uses sauces, believing food is best unadorned if the best quality ingredients are combined.

The approach is evident in her Kai Ora cookbook and to those she entertains at her homes in Herne Bay and Pakiri Beach, both of which she has set up to cater for guests on a grand scale.

Her cruise degustation menu on Pacific Dawn featured seven courses and we're lucky to be able to share the recipes for one of them today: an Asian-influenced pork belly which was served aboard in appetiser-sized bites, but can easily work as a main accompanied by fresh greens.

Crispy Skinned Pork Belly

(Serves 6-8 main-sized portions or can be cubed into appetisers)

2 whole red chillies
handful of bonito flakes
large piece of ginger, slivered
6 pieces star anise
1 glass white wine
1 cup soy sauce
6 cloves garlic, crushed
2 small cakes of palm sugar
1 1/2 kg pork belly
good dose sea salt
1 Tbs fennel seeds
bunch of asparagus
courgettes, halved lengthwise
peel of one orange, finely julienned

1. Drown pork in pot of cold water and chuck everything except the salt and fennel seeds, into the pot and bring to the boil, then turn down to a blip blip simmer (tiny bubbles just breaking the surface).

2. Leave to cook slowly 3-3½ hours, maintaining the slightest blip blip.

3. Pre-heat oven grill to 200?C.

4. Remove pork from pot, reserving the stock. When cool enough to handle, score the skin with a sharp knife and rub in heaps of salt and sprinkle the fennel seeds everywhere to roast.

5. Place pork under grill and keep an eye on it. When the skin has crackled up take it out of the oven. With this dish it's not imperative to have a super hard crackle and 20-30 minutes under the grill should be sufficient.

6. Leave 10 minutes to rest, then carve accordingly.

7. Blanch the portioned vegetables (other greens can be substituted if these are not available), keep them crunchy. Toss with a little olive oil and season to taste.

8. Serve with a splash of the liquid stock on a spoon with a piece of the crispy pork on top as an appetiser or on a plate with a bed of greens as a main.