Mediterranean Pork Belly Strips

This is a simple but immensely satisfying meal that is very easy on the purse-strings too.

Pork belly strips are very inexpensive but deliciously fatty. Picked up for only £3-4, when these are treated nicely they are just fab and this meal is particularly comforting.

I very simply baked on a bed of cherry tomatoes, peppers and black olives with garlic for a real taste of the Mediterranean and when accompanied with Greek Roasted Lemon Potatoes it really is to die for. Rather than a sauce, the juice made from the pork fat, tomatoes and peppers works a treat.

Once the chopping and assembling is done – this can all be bunged in the oven for 45 minutes and you can sit and relax with a glass of wine, or get on with bits and bobs at home, safe in the knowledge a gorgeous meal is in progress that takes next to no nurturing.

Here’s how:

·         Packet of pork belly stips

·         Handful of cherry tomatoes

·         Handful of black olives

·         Few cloves of garlic, skin on

·         1 red and yellow pepper

·         1 tbsp olive oil

·         Salt & Pepper

·         1 tbsp dried oregano

Firstly get the oven on around 180-200 degrees and prepare the veg. The tomatoes need to be halved, the peppers sliced and the olives sliced into 2-3 pieces, depending on the size. Then scatter with the garlic into an oven-proof dish.

Season the pork belly strips generously on both sides then place on top of the ‘bed’ of tomatoes, olives and peppers. Next drizzle over a good glug of olive oil, the best quality you have to-hand and finally scatter over some dried oregano.

Place into the oven and roast for 45 minutes-an hour, depending on your oven and how crispy you like the strips to be.

Enjoy with the Greek Roasted Lemon Potatoes.