Warming Pork and Cider Casserole
Ingredients
1kg pork shoulder, chopped into bite size pieces
200g bacon lardons
400ml chicken stock
400g shallots, peeled
1 onion
2 celery sticks
100ml creme fraiche
2 tbsp dijon mustard
Butter and olive oil for frying
Handful of freshly chopped tarragon
Around 300ml medium-dry cider
1 tbsp cornflour
Method
- Heat olive oil in a large pan and add the pork in a couple of batches, browning each batch for around 8 mins. Remove each batch from the pan with a slotted spoon onto a plate.
- Add the whole shallots and cook until browned and transfer to a plate.
- At the same time, fry the bacon in a large casserole dish with a dash of olive oil until crisp, remove with a slotted spoon onto a plate.
- Chop the onion and celery and add into the casserole dish with a good chunk of butter, cooking until softened.
- Add the bacon, pork, stock and cider to the dish, bring to the boil and then turn down the heat and simmer for around an hour.
- Add the shallots and cook for another 1 – 1 ½ hours until the pork is tender.
- Mix cornflour with a splash of cider and add to the casserole, stirring to thicken the sauce.
- After 5 mins, mix in the creme fraiche, mustard and tarragon, season and serve.