I’ve been to Jersey twice, once by boat from France, and the second time by plane from London. It’s a nice mix of British and French food, and this recipe for Jersey crock reminds me of French cassoulet prepared in a slow cooker. The main ingredient is a blend of dried beans, which I was able to buy at a farm shop. In general, these are a mix of broad beans, butter beans, haricot or navy beans, pinto beans, kidney beans, and black beans.
I read a number of recipes online and then put together the ingredients that sounded tasty, but still had some vegetables to be a little bit healthy. The one thing I would do differently next time is to pre-fry the pork belly. Some people may like it straight in the stew, but I’m not a big fan of fatty textures. So, I think browning the pork, and draining some fat would taste better. My sister made the recipe for Jersey crock using beans I took to her, and she put in sausage and bacon instead of the pork belly. Alternatively, you could also leave out the meat and add more vegetables for a vegetarian version.
Ingredients
500g mixed dried Jersey beans
500g pork belly
2 onions, peeled, halved and sliced
2 carrots, peeled and sliced into 1-cm thick pieces
4 bay leaves
2 cubes vegetable stock
Handful of fresh parsley
1-2 tsp fresh thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
Crusty bread to serve
Instructions
The Jersey beans are a mix of dried beans including broad beans, butter beans, haricot or navy beans, pinto beans, kidney beans, and black beans. First, soak the dried beans overnight in cold water.
The next day, boil the beans in a large pot of water for about 10 minutes then drain them.
Remove the excess fat from the pork belly, and cut into cubes. Then put the beans, cubed pork, onions, carrots, bay leaves, vegetable stock, parsley and thyme in the crockpot.
Cover with water, and cook slowly over medium-high heat for at least five hours. Check periodically and top up with water if necessary. Towards the end of the cooking, remove the lid to thicken the sauce. Season with salt and pepper.
Finally, serve with crusty bread.
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