Crispy pork and noodles

Another back-of-the-net recipe from Jamie Oliver. Honestly, I'm not really sure why I bother making things by anyone else. This man is amazing. He knows what I want to eat and he describes to me in a friendly way how to do it.

Forget all that stuff about school dinners and teaching Americans how not to be fat and all that jazz - that's just what he does because he's got to do something with his time, because he's was so rich by 24 he could have retired and done fuck all for the rest of his life and still lived in a giant house in Primrose Hill and had 12 children without breaking a sweat. Yes, forget it all, that's just him filling his time, being hyperactive. What he does well, really really well, is produce recipes for things that taste even better - if this is possible - than a Chinese takeaway.

And this is a prime example.

So, here we go - Jamie Oliver's hot and sour rhubarb and crispy pork with noodles. I urge you to make this. If I were there with you, I'd grab you by the shoulders and say in a low, urgent voice "Make this. Make this now."

You'll need, for 4

1kg pork belly, boned, rind removed, cut into 3–4cm cubes

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
groundnut or vegetable oil for frying
375g medium egg noodles
4 spring onions, trimmed and finely sliced
1 fresh red chilli, deseeded and finely sliced
coriander to sprinkle on top
2 limes


for the marinade

400g rhubarb
4 tablespoons runny honey
4 tablespoons soy sauce
4 garlic cloves, peeled
2 fresh red chillies, halved and deseeded
1 heaped teaspoon five-spice
a thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped

1 Preheat the oven to 180C. Put the pork pieces into a roasting try and put to one side. Put all the marinade ingredients into a food processor and whizz. Pour over the pork and then add a large wine glass of water. Cover tightly with foil and put in the oven for 1.5 hours.

2 After cooking, pick the pieces of pork out of the pan and fry them in oil for a few minutes until crispy and brown - even a little blackened. Boil up your noodles if you're having them.

4 To serve, plunk down a bed of noodles, put the pork on top, spoon over some of the sauce left in the bottom of the roasting pan then scatter with coriander, chillies, spring onions and serve with a wedge of lime. Then eat and say to yourself God DAMN IT that boy can cook.