There’s nothing like loading up a sheet pan with ingredients, popping it in the oven and pulling out a delicious dinner. Pick up a copy of Sheet Pan Magic and get ready to get dinner on the table in no time at all. This pork belly and smoky beans updates a classic comfort food to the nines.
Pork belly is still a relatively inexpensive cut of meat that’s soft and tender when cooked low and slow. Here the porky flavors melt into the beans to produce a dish that’s insanely comforting and delicious. It does take a few hours to cook, but almost all of this is hands-off time in the oven.
Ingredients
- 3 1/4 pound pork belly
- 2 14-ounce cans cannellini or lima beans, drained
- chopped flat leaf parsley, to serve
Sauce
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 14-ounce can chopped tomatoes
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 5 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon blackstrap molasses
- 2 tablespoons smoked paprika
- 2 teaspoons English mustard powder
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 3 teaspoons sea salt
Directions
For the pork belly
Preheat the oven to 325ºF.
Place all the sauce ingredients, including 3¼ cups just-boiled water, in a 8 x 12 x 2-in sheet pan and mix well.
Place the pork belly on top, skin-side up. Spoon some of the liquid over the pork and rub into the skin. Cover loosely with foil and roast for 1½ hours.
Remove the foil, baste the pork with the sauce and roast, uncovered, for a further hour, adding water to the pan as needed to prevent the sauce drying out.
Stir the beans into the sauce, adding more water if too thick, and roast for a final 30 minutes. The beans should be cooking in a thick rich sauce.
When done, remove the skin from the pork, cut the meat into pieces and stir into the beans and sauce. Serve immediately, with chopped parsley.
