Golden roasted pork belly, homemade potato dumplings, and creamy chopped spinach make for a hearty lunch full of bold flavors. The meat is first slow-roasted covered, then finished uncovered at a higher temperature for a beautiful color.
This recipe requires a bit of time, but each part is simple. Prepare the potatoes a day ahead, stir the meat occasionally while roasting, and finish the spinach with an egg and a splash of cream. The original recipe doesn’t specify most ingredient amounts, so adjust them to your desired portions and taste.
What You’ll Need
For the pork roast:
- pork belly,
- onion,
- several cloves of garlic,
- salt,
- ground pepper,
- caraway seeds,
- beer for basting.
For the stewed spinach:
- chopped spinach,
- onion,
- garlic,
- salt,
- 1 egg,
- a bit of cream.
For the potato dumplings:
- potatoes, cooked in their skins a day ahead,
- coarse flour,
- egg,
- salt.
The original recipe doesn’t give exact amounts for most ingredients, so adjust them according to the number of servings and the desired consistency of the potato dough.
Step-by-Step Preparation:
1. Preparing the potatoes: Boil the potatoes a day ahead and let them cool completely. Before making the dumplings, peel and grate them. Preparing them in advance means they’re ready to use when the meat is finishing in the oven.
2. Seasoning the meat: Cut the pork belly into larger cubes and place them in a roasting pan. Season with salt, pepper, caraway seeds, and mix well with chopped onion and several cloves of garlic.
3. Slow roasting: Add just a little beer for basting and cover the roasting pan. Roast at 160°C for about 1.5 hours. Stir occasionally during roasting so the meat cooks evenly and blends with the onion, garlic, and spices.
4. Browning the roast: After 1.5 hours, uncover the pan and baste the meat with a bit more beer. Increase the temperature to 180–190°C and roast for another 30 minutes or so, until the roast is nicely browned.
5. Making the potato dough: Combine the grated, cooled potatoes with coarse flour, egg, and salt. The original recipe doesn’t specify the exact amount of flour, so add as needed until you can shape the dough into dumplings.
6. Cooking the dumplings: Shape dumplings from the prepared potato dough. Place them in boiling water and cook for about 10 minutes. Then remove and drain them so they don’t water down the meat gravy on the plate.
7. Onion base for the spinach: Sauté the chopped onion and add the chopped spinach. Stew together until the spinach is ready to season. Finally, add salt and garlic to taste.
8. Thickening the spinach: Stir one egg into the spinach to thicken it. Then add a bit of cream for extra smoothness. Briefly combine everything and season further with salt or garlic as needed.
9. Serving: Serve the finished pork roast with potato dumplings and stewed spinach. Add the onion and the flavorful beer gravy from the roasting pan to the meat.
Why Prepare the Potatoes a Day Ahead
The recipe calls for boiled, peeled, and cooled potatoes. By boiling them the day before, you don’t have to wait for them to cool during preparation and can grate them straight into the dough.
Adjust the amount of coarse flour to the potatoes used. Add it gradually, just enough to shape the dumplings, as the original recipe doesn’t provide an exact ratio.
How to Get a Beautifully Browned Roast
The first part of roasting is covered at 160°C so the larger pieces of meat cook slowly. They get their color only after uncovering the pan, basting with a bit more beer, and increasing the temperature to 180–190°C.
During the final 30 minutes or so, watch the color of the meat. The roast is ready when it has the desired color on the surface and there’s a rich, flavorful gravy with onion left in the pan.
How to Time Each Part of the Lunch
Start preparing the spinach and dumplings while the meat finishes roasting. The dumplings cook for about 10 minutes, while the spinach needs a sautéed onion base, a short stewing, seasoning, thickening with egg, and smoothing with cream.
If you prep the potatoes ahead, you can finish all three parts at about the same time. Serve the meat fresh from the oven with warm dumplings and creamy spinach.
Dobrou chuť!
