Roast pork belly with anise carrot purée and balsamic glazed carrots

First make the pork belly glaze. Place all the ingredients together in a pan and reduce on a low heat until syrupy. Leave to infuse for a day before passing through a fine strainer

To make the carrot and star anise purée, heat a pan over a low heat and melt the butter. Add the carrots, salt, sugar, tarragon, thyme and star anise and cover with a lid. Cook for 8-12 minutes without colouring the carrots, stirring now and again

Add the stock and cream and cook at a fast simmer for approximately 20 minutes until reduced. Add the lemon juice and reduce further until thick and soft

Remove two thirds of the star anise from the carrots as well as the thyme and tarragon. Place a third of the carrots into the blender with the star anise and purée until very smooth. Pass through a fine sieve

Purée the remaining carrots coarsely, mix together with the finely puréed carrots and cool until ready to serve

Pre-heat the oven to 180˚C/gas mark 4. Place the belly in a large medium hot frying pan with a dash of oil and sear on all sides until evenly browned. Warm through in the the oven for 30 minutes, season and then glaze generously with a brush

Reduce to oven to 170˚C/gas mark 3.5. Add the pork back to the oven for 1.5 hours, glazing every 20 minutes

Start the balsamic glazed carrots while the pork is roasting. Heat a casserole pan on a medium heat with the olive oil. Once hot add the butter. When the butter is golden, add the peeled carrots, star anise, tarragon, thyme, bay leaves, salt, pepper and sugar

Cook on a medium heat for approximately 10-15 minutes. Turn the heat right up so that they start to colour. After 3-4 minutes they should be a golden brown. Add the balsamic vinegar and cook until the vinegar has reduced by two thirds and is thick and syrupy

Drain the carrots and remove all the herbs. Use the reduced vinegar to reheat the carrots so they are nice and glazed when ready to serve

When the pork belly is ready, divide into 4 even portions and trim of any excess to create 4 even rectangular portions. Coat with the hot glaze and set aside

Heat the carrot puree and place down the centre of the dish, followed by the hot glazed pork belly and re-heated balsamic glazed carrots