Mardi Gras: Roasted Creole Pork Belly Casserole

Contains:  Soy or Coconut Aminos.  Nightshades.  Is:  Gluten-free, Paleo option, Whole 30 option, assuming you use the coconut aminos.  

Seasoned a la Creole

Pork belly strips are typically made into bacon, but when I got last summer’s half a pig share, I asked for half the belly meat to be made into strips that were not further cured into bacon.  There are a lot of Korean recipes that call for this, but I haven’t gotten around to one of those yet.  Instead, Mardi Gras is looming on the horizon,  and while I’m not a big partier, I do like the food such parties provide.  I’ll have other recipes to hand for pork belly in the future.

Potatoes layered in pan, with marinated pork belly slices atop. Ready for that oven!

I’ve done seafood tributes to Fat Tuesday in the past, so this time, hey, why not use pork belly?  Yep, why not?

Pull out of oven, and place the pepper/mushroom mixture atop.

This is one of those easy recipes that is little muss nor fuss, although this does take a while to cook.  Leftovers are painless, too.

Prep Time: 15 minutes.
Cook Time: 90 minutes.
Rest Time:  10 minutes.
Serves:  4 – 5.
Cuisine:  Owes at least something to Cajun/Creole Country.
Leftovers:  Sure.  Reheat, enjoy.

Roasted Creole Pork Belly Casserole

• 4 or 5 or 6 Yukon gold or other gold potatoes, size dependent, sliced into 1/3rd to 1/2 inch slices.  Remove any bad spots but you can leave the skin on if you wish.  (For Whole30, remove.)
• 1 pound pork belly strips, cut (by your butcher?) as if they were thick bacon.
• 1 tablespoon Creole / Cajun seasoning, salt-free.  See my home-made version here.  
• About a half teaspoon of coarse grind sea salt, or to taste.
• Optional half teaspoon of extra cayenne powder, or to taste.
• 1 tablespoon low sodium gluten free tamari/soy sauce or coconut aminos for Whole 30. 
• 1 teaspoons + 2 teaspoon of cooking oil (I preferentially go for healthy high temperature avocado oil)
• 1 large or two smaller bell peppers, any color.  
• 4-5 ounces white or cremini (button) mushrooms. 
• Optional half teaspoon of garlic powder.

Layer out the potatoes on the bottom of your 9″ X 12″ baking pan.  One layer suffices.  Coat with about a teaspoon of oil, rubbing this all over the potatoes.  If you are using Russets, sprinkle a little salt over these.

In a bowl, place the pork belly strips (cut to around 4 inches long, or perhaps about half of each strip).  Add the Creole seasoning, the salt, any extra cayenne, and one teaspoon of oil.  Massage with your hands, and set aside, on the counter, for 20-30 minutes.

Set oven temperature to 325 F / 160 C.

Put the pan with the potatoes, pork belly, and seasonings as already mentioned into the oven, and allow this to roast away for 90 minutes.

Towards the end of the cooking time,  heat up a skillet to medium-low heat, with the last 2 teaspoons of oil.

Add the mushrooms, peppers, and garlic powder.   Stir fry for about 15 – 20 minutes, depending how you like your peppers – I apparently like them a bit more au dente than most of my friends do.

When finished cooking, pull the pan with the potatoes and meat from the oven, and layer the mushroom/pepper mixture over.   Serve and enjoy.  Makes great leftovers, too.  (I had a serving for breakfast.)

Roasted Pork Belly Strips – for a similar recipe, and for some fascinating info on pork bellies in cuisine, not to be mistaken for Pork Belly Futures.

THIS RECIPE IS SHARED WITH:  Fiesta Friday’s Link Party.  Get Fat Tuesday going!  Co-hosts this week are Laurena @ Life Diet Health and Kat @ Kat’s 9 Lives.

And:  What’s for Dinner: Sunday Link Up.   Still time to prep for Fat Tuesday!

Happy Mardi Gras!

For your partying pleasure:

I visited New Orleans twice, discovered the fantastic Zydeco music the first time (business trip in the 90s, live performers at a dining spot). Second time was for meeting online friends and having Halloween weekend fun, almost as merry as Mardi Gras is reputed to be. The year before the unfortunate Katrina.

Creole, Baby!  (Oh, when this song came out in the 70s, he looked so OLD!  Now he looks like a teenager to me…)

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