Stewed Pork in Sauce
Carne en Salsa is a dish which you will mainly find in Andalucia. It is a lovely, tasty dish which can be served as either a main dish with chips or as a tapa. The most important thing about this dish is to make sure that the pork is lovely and tender so I suggest cooking it slowly over a gentle heat for a couple of hours.
The amount and thickness of the sauce is up to you so you should add the amount of water that you prefer and check carefully during cooking so that you can add more if necessary.
Ingredients
Serves 4 main meals or 8 – 10 tapas
- 700g of diced pork
- 4 table spoons of olive oil
- 1 glass of white wine
- 1 stock cube (often used in Spanish cooking)
- tomato puree – optional
- 3 whole cloves of garlic
- 1 large onion finely chopped
- 1 carrot diced quite small
- 2 sticks of celery thinly sliced – optional
- peas
- about a dozen black pepper corns (this is just a guide, you can use more or less depending on your preference)
- a pinch of saffron if you can get it but don’t worry if you can’t
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 – 1 teaspoon of paprika – use either sweet or hot paprika depending on your preference
- salt
- water
- ground black or white pepper
NOTE: When I make this dish I don’t bother with the saffron or the tomato puree but I do add celery. I also favour sweet paprika rather than hot for this recipe.
Cooking Method
Put the olive oil in a large saucepan on a medium heat. Add the pork and brown it for about 5 or 10 minutes over a medium heat. Once it is browned add the onion, carrot, celery, garlic, pepper corns, ground pepper, paprika, saffron and a little tomato puree (if you want to) and continue cooking on a gentle or medium heat for another 10 minutes.
Add the white wine and cook for about 10 minutes until the white wine has been absorbed. Add enough boiling water to almost cover the meat, then dissolve the stock cube into the water, cover the saucepan and simmer gently for about an hour and a half or until the pork is tender. The water should be absorbed in this time leaving you with a lovely sauce with the pork but you may have to add more water during cooking.
Add the peas and some salt if is necessary and cook for about 10 minutes.
In Spain this would usually be served with chips but it is very nice with crusty bread.