Slow Cooker Pork Belly & Beans

Cooking pork belly and beans in a slow cooker is a great midweek, or lazy weekend main meal.

I usually cook Boston Baked Beans but thought I'd try a few different flavours, based on BBC Good Food's Braised Pork Belly with Borlotti Beans

Serves 4

400g cubed pork belly, or 4 pork belly strips (skin removed)

1 large onion, peeled and diced

1 large carrot, peeled and diced

1 large stick of celery, diced

1 large clove of garlic, peeled and crushed

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tbsp tomato paste

1 tsp fennel seeds

Small sprig of rosemary

1 tin chopped tomatoes

2 cans beans (borlotti, cannellini, pinto beans) and their liquid 

200ml white wine

Recently boiled water

1 chicken stock cube, crumbled

2 tbsp plain flour, or gluten free alternative (I used chickpea flour)

Turn the slow cooker on to warm up.

Fry the cubed pork in the vegetable oil over a medium high heat in a high sided frying pan.

Once it starts to brown, push to one side and add the onion, carrot, celery and garlic.  Stir, and fry for a couple of minutes then stir the tomato paste, fennel and rosemary.

Scrape the contents of the frying pan into the slow cooker, together with the beans and their liquid.  Bring  the wine and crumbled stock cube to the boil in the frying pan then pour over the pork and beans in the slow cooker.  Mix, and top up with recently boiled water so everything is just covered with liquid.

Cook on high for 6-8 hours.  30 minutes before you want to serve, mix a little of the cooking liquor into the flour to form a loose paste.  Stir the flour paste into the stew, squishing any lumps if you see any.  Cover, and stir once before serving.

We served it with roast potatoes and cauliflower, but it works well with mashed potato, rice, pasta...

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