Pork and beans

Tam West

Rich belly pork gives flavour to the beans as it cooks slowly and melts to form a satisfying jus in this simple dish. You’ll need to begin this recipe the day before by soaking the beans. You could also cook this in a crock pot — add all the ingredients from step 2, cover and cook for 6-7 hours.

Ingredients

200 g	Cannellini beans, dried, soaked in cold water overnight (Main)
2 Tbsp	Olive oil
½	Onions, diced
1 small	Carrot, diced
1 stalk	Celery, diced
3 tsp	Garlic, grated
1 Tbsp	Tomato paste
¼ tsp	Chilli powder
2 tsp	Thyme leaves, picked
2 tsp	Sage leaves, chopped
1 cup	Red wine
2 cups	Chicken stock
2 cups	Water
700 g	Pork belly, cut into 2cm-thick slices (Main)
1 Tbsp	Oregano leaves

Directions

1. Heat oven to 150C. Heat olive oil in a casserole over a medium heat, add onion, carrot, celery and garlic and gently fry for 5 minutes.
2. Add tomato paste and cook for a further 5 minutes on a low heat. Add chilli, thyme, sage, wine, stock, water and drained beans. Stir to combine and bring up to the boil. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper. Place pork belly on top of beans.
3. Cover with a lid and place into oven. Cook for 3½-4 hours or until beans are tender.
4. To serve, spoon beans into bowls and arrange pork belly on top, sprinkle with oregano and drizzle with extra olive oil.

More of Geoff's comfort food recipes

• Chicken, lentils and baby onions
  
• Tomato, thyme and feta prawns