Octopus, piglet belly, squid and smoked mussel broth

Preparation Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 4 hours

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

For the octopus- 8 octopus tentacles- 10ml rapeseed oil

For the piglet belly- 1 boneless piglet belly- 100g salt- 50g sugar - 1 litre chicken stock- 140g veal stock- 1 sprig of thyme- 4 peppercorns- 2 bay leaves- 3 cloves garlic, skin on & crushed- 2 large onions, peeled and chopped into eighths

For the squid- 1 whole large squid- 10ml rapeseed oil

For the confit lemon- 4 large unwaxed Italian lemons- 100g caster sugar- 5g salt

For the mussel stock- 1kg mussels- 1 tbsp vegetable oil- 5g white soy - 8g Ras-el-hanout

For the pork crackling- Piece of dried pork skin- Vegetable oil, for deep frying

For the garnish- 5g crisp seaweed- 1 punnet micro melons- 1 punnet micro coriander

METHOD

1. For the octopus, vac pac the tentacles with the rapeseed oil and then cook in the water bath at 80˚C for 4 hours

2. For the piglet belly, place all the ingredients into a heavy-bottomed casserole dish. Cover with a lid and braise in a preheated oven at 160˚C for 2 hours or until soft and tender. Remove from the cooking liquor and peel off the skin. Portion so you have 4 equal pieces and pan fry in hot oil, skin side down until golden brown. Drain on kitchen paper.

3. For the squid, clean and prep the squid by gently pulling out the internal organs from the head. Reach inside the head and pull out the hard beak and then taking a knife to the surface gently scrape away any speckles or colour. Wash thoroughly under cold running water and then cut into 2cm rings; you will later portion these into squares 2cm x2cm. Vac pac the squid rings with the oil and cook in the water bath at 66˚C for 9 minutes. Once cooked remove from the vac bag and portion into squares. Set aside.

4. For the confit lemon, peel and segment the lemons ensuring that there is no pith left on. Vac pac with the remaining ingredients and cook in the water bath at 80˚C for 3 hours. Chill in the fridge and then portion when ready to serve.

5. For the mussel stock, heat a wok until smoking. Add the vegetable oil and once smoking add a handful of mussels and smoke with a blowtorch. Repeat until you have used all the

mussles up. Once you have the smoked mussel stock, pass through a fine sieve, add the white soy and Ras-el-hanout and season to taste.

6. For the pork crackling, break the dried skin small pieces and deep fry at 190-200˚C for 30 seconds or until it becomes light and fluffy. Drain on kitchen paper.

7. To plate, place the piglet belly just off centre of the plate. Drape two octopus tentacles off it from either side. Place a couple of squid squares around the dish and scatter around portions of confit lemon. Set the pork crackling at the top end of the piglet belly and then garnish the plate with slices of micro melons, crisp seaweed and micro coriander). Serve the smoked mussel stock in a jug on the side.