I was left alone at home tonight, so thought I’d indulge in some easy comfort food for dinner. There was minced pork belly lurking in the bottom of the fridge that I was planning on making into homemade chorizo (there’s always next week), and the remains of a bag of cranberries, so I thought I’d whip up a burger or two to have between some crusty sourdough bread. I got the pork belly from Rossiters butchers in Bournville, and I believe it originated on Galileo Organic Farm in Warwickshire. Ask your butcher to put the belly through the coarse setting on the mincer. This recipe makes four tasty burgers:

Ingredients

400g coarsely minced organic pork belly
Small handful or cranberries
1 large clove of garlic
1 level tsp hot smoked paprika
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 dessert spoon Dijon mustard
1 tsp maldon sea salt
Good pinch black pepper
1 small dried red chilli
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Method

Chop the garlic finely, and the cranberries roughly (and weep as they fly round the kitchen). In a pestle and mortar, bash together the fennel, salt,  pepper, and chilli, until thoroughly crushed. Add these to a mixing bowl together with the pork, mustard, paprika, and parsley. Get stuck in with your hands and combine all the ingredients thoroughly. Now add a tiny dash of rapeseed oil to a frying pan on a low-medium heat. With two hands, mould the mixture into four round burgers about 2cm thick, and place them into the hot pan. Fry for 5 mins on each side, basting it frequently with the liquid that is released from the burgers as they cook. Serve between two thick slices of rustic bread, and enjoy, perhaps with a little fresh goats cheese, and a full-bodied red wine. Eating alone is for Kings!