Pigs Cheek Spanish Style with Chorizo and Beans in 3 stages

I remember a couple of business men in Seville sharing a bottle of sherry with their meal, a Fino, a strong, immensely mouth puckeringly dry wine, and finishing the meal with a rich creamy pudding washed down with a bottle of Cava. How they got up after the meal I don’t know. How I managed to imitate them thinking this was de rigueur was another thing altogether. I should have known better. By the time I left the restaurant Holy Week was in full swing and the streets were almost impassable. The staring eyes of the Madonna and the silent, frankly terrifying procession of the Penitentes left me with hair raised in places I had never even dreamed of. If you were there in ’93 it was me who screamed out “I believe!!” at that particular drunken moment.

Following up on last night’s duck recipe, I am doing pork. Feeling may be a bit unsettled about not doing lamb on a religious holiday (ritual is innate isn’t it - innate innit?) but a pig cheek dish brings a moment’s hesitation, although pouring a glass of guilt soaked sherry into a Spanish style stew and another down my throat seems to ease the catholic burden.

Pork Cheek with chorizo and beans in 3 stages

Oven on 130C (250F gas 1)

Stage 1:

Chop an onion, carrot and celery stick into rough dice. Crush and puree 2-3 garlic cloves with some salt and the back of a knife. Chop 125g chorizo into chunks. Mix equal amounts of stock and wine (I have gone for a 400g tub of chicken stock and some cooking wine) with 1tbspn of tomato puree and some paprika.

Stage 2:

Heat some oil in a frying pan, season and sauté the pigs’ cheeks (about 3 per person) in stages to avoid crowding the pan and turning the meat grey. Set aside in a casserole and fry the carrots first, then the onion and celery (sweating only not browning). At the last minute, add the garlic. Stir through and add to the casserole. Finally, fry the chorizo to take a little of the rawness out. Throw it into the casserole. Deglaze the pan with a good splash of sherry, Amontillado dry best, and a splash of sherry vinegar getting any of the meat and vegetable flavours into the casserole. Pour in the stock with the wine, the tomato puree and the paprika. (An alternative to this can be to add sherry vinegar to help break down the meat fibres and a couple of orange strips (white removed) to give it a slightly more citrus and sharper taste). Stir gently and put the lid on. Place into the oven and walk away for 3 hours.

Stage 3:

When the stew is done, sieve the sauce into a pan and remove the chorizo and cheeks back to the casserole (a bit fiddly-ouchy-hot but the vegetables are no longer necessary and it looks prettier, trust me!) Add some sliced red peppers (I have a jar of Piquillo Peppers) and a tin of butter beans. Gently stir and put back into the oven to keep warm while the sauce is reducing. Once the sauce has reduced by two thirds and is creamier in consistency, place the meats, peppers and beans into the sauce pan to ensure they are heated through. (Alternative: heat 3 cans of butter beans in a pan. Once heated through, throw them into a blender and puree them with a glug of olive oil until mash. Use this as your base to sit the meat, chorizo and peppers on then drizzle the sauce over and around the food. This would technically be a fourth stage).

Finally garnish with finely chopped parsley, bottle of sherry to side (coughs innocently!)