News

Timara Lodge is owned by Bryan and Jan Johnson, the owners of Spy Valley Wines. With its very own Michelin-rated chef, Louis Schindler, guests are treated to extraordinary meals every night. Braised organic pork belly with sumac and butternut pumpkin, matched with 2009 Spy Valley Pinot Noir is one such meal. Here is the full recipe so you can create your own luxury experience at home:

Braised organic pork belly with sumac and butternut pumpkin

800g pork belly

50g sliced fresh ginger

50g chili paste

100ml premium dark soy sauce

50g fish sauce

2 tbsp sumac

Salt

1 butternut pumpkin

30g sumac

1 tbsp garam masala

50ml olive oil

Salt, pepper

5 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped

Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees on fan bake. Pour boiling water into a roasting dish and deep enough to submerge the pork belly skin side down.

Put the roasting dish over a gas burner or kitchen hob and boil the pork belly for 2 minutes. Remove the pork belly and put aside. Use a sharp knife to score the pork skin into about 2 cm squares. Add the soy sauce, chilly paste, ginger and fish sauce to the remaining water in the roasting dish.  Put the pork belly back into the roasting dish but this time skin side up. Make sure the water is only deep enough to cover 90% of the pork belly. The skin must not be covered by the liquid. Season the skin with plenty of salt.

Put the pork into the oven and cook for 35 minutes. After 35 minutes the skin should be nice and crispy. Lower the heat in the oven to 130 degrees and change the mode from fan bake to normal bake. Continue to cook the belly for another 4 hours at this temperature. Remove the belly from the oven and put aside. You can prepare the belly the day before. It will keep in the fridge fro a couple of days without problems.

Pre heat the oven to 150 degrees on fan bake.

Peel the pumpkin, remove the seeds and cut into equal sized shapes.

Put the pumpkin into a roasting dish, sprinkle with the sumac, garam masala, olive oil garlic and season with salt and pepper.

Roast the pumpkin for 35 to 45 minutes in the oven until soft and slightly caramelized.

Cut the pork belly into 2 cm thick slices, add to the pumpkin, and roast for another 5 minutes to reheat.

The succulent and tender pork belly, together with the tangy sensation of the sumac and the nuttiness of the pumpkin, should be the perfect marriage with the Spy Valley Pinot Noir.    ENJOY!