Almost Portuguese Pig's Cheek

Natural sweetness; it’s the theme of my next dish combining meat with fruit. It is a magical mix, think lamb with dates; a grassy, earthily tasting meal is given a toffee or palm sugar hit with the dates that sweeten the sauce. Perhaps roast pork and apricots, subtly savoury light fleshed meat mixed with a sweet and slightly acidic fruit. Or even Devils on Horseback? Tangy little bites of salty bacon enveloping a sticky centre. How about a pork loin fillet stuffed with chopped prunes and wrapped tightly in pancetta before sealing and cooking? Pure sweetness meets salt in a mouth watering combination leaving you wanting more.

 

Here though the flavours are less intense. A slightly earthier, darker, richer meat; pig’s cheek (forgive me but there were quite a few in the freezer so this is a variant of a theme), is married to a slightly softer, gentle natural sweetness: prunes. The prunes give a less overwhelming, slightly more acidic tang to the sauce, puffing up to their former plumy glory. Of course these naturally sweet prunes, naturally sweetened by the addition of port, naturally, and have been soaking in the alcohol for a few hours.

 

Port is a wonderfully rich, fruity, almost jammy drink that has a powerful punch at the end of it thanks to the inclusion of grape spirit (one part to every four of wine). Fortunately, the headier effects of the alcohol are burned off with the cooking process and second helpings will not get you pulled over and breathalysed (the stuff in the glass next to your plate will though).

 

To ensure a balanced flavour, the recipe includes white wine and stock. Now, I am not clever enough to know the different effects on the palate from using red wine in the dish, but would like to think the end result would be less pruney and therefore be a waste of good fruit. 

 

Almost Portuguese Pig's Cheek

 

250g Prunes

Port NV (for goodness sake don’t use the good stuff!)

3-5 Pig’s cheeks per person

Olive oil

1 Onion

1 Carrot

1 stick Celery

2-3 cloves garlic

500ml White wine

500ml chicken/pork stock

1 Tbsp Tomato Puree

Parsley

 

Oven to 130C (250F, Gas 1)

 

Stage 1:

Place the prunes in a cereal bowl (or similar sized bowl) and cover with the port.

 

Stage 2:

Roughly dice the Onion, celery and carrot and in a pan sauté with some olive oil, starting with the carrot to let that turn slightly golden first then adding the onion and celery. Finally, fine chop the garlic and add that to stir through and then remove all of it to a casserole.

 

Stage 3:

In the same pan, brown the pig’s cheeks ensuring they have that caramelised tinge. Do three or four at a time and don’t crowd the pan or they will steam and take on a rather grim grey colour instead. Add to the casserole. Deglaze the pan with some of the wine, pour into the casserole and add the rest of the wine, the tomato puree and the stock, stir gently. Then pour in the prunes, port and all. Put the casserole in the oven and cook for about 3 hours.

 

Stage 4:

This is the finger hot business. Strain the juices into a pan and start to reduce rapidly. While this is doing, carefully lift the cheeks and the prunes out of the vegetable mix and return to the casserole and put in a warm place, such as the oven with the temperature off and the door ajar.

 

Stage 5:

Once the sauce is reduced to a creamy consistency pour it into the casserole and then remove the warmed plates to the table. Put three or five of the cheeks in a stylish fashion onto the plate, in between scatter some prunes and then spoon over the thickened sauce.  Sprinkle parsley over for garnish. Serve with crushed potatoes or couscous or bulgar wheat.

Subtle natural sweetness combined with the robust tang of the stock and the gentle meat flavour of the pork. Add a little unnatural sweetness with a bottle of Portuguese red on the side (no preparation necessary).