Cerdo

Today we bring you an adaptation of the fideuá from Spain’s eastern coast, which is mainly made with fish and seafood. Everyone knows my dislike for fish, so when my mom made this dish, swapping the fish for pork secreto, I jumped right on it.

What do we need?

• 200 g (7 oz) pork secreto

• 200 g (7 oz) fideuá pasta

• Water

• Mushrooms

• Saffron

• Salt

• Olive oil

• Paprika

• Garlic

• Parmesan cheese

How do we make it?

• Pour a splash of olive oil into a large pot, sauté the garlic, add the meat and mushrooms with a pinch of salt, and cook everything together. Add a bit of paprika.

• Once it’s nicely sautéed, toss in the noodles and stir everything together so they pick up the flavor.

• Add twice as much water as pasta (or a bit more if you want it slightly brothy).

• Let it cook for about 15-20 minutes, adding a pinch of saffron and a little more paprika along the way.

• When plating, shave a few slices of parmesan cheese and lay them on top.

Tips:

• We used shiitake mushrooms, but it turns out great with any kind of mushroom.

• If you don’t have pork secreto, you can use any tender cut of pork.

• The original recipe calls for ñoras (dried sweet red peppers), which are crushed and added to the sofrito. If you can find them (and don’t get scared off by the price), they give the dish a special touch.

*[English version] FIDEUÁ ** *Ingredients:

• 200 g (7 oz) pork meat

• 200 g (7 oz) fideuá pasta

• Water

• Mushrooms

• Saffron

• Salt

• Olive oil

• Paprika

• Garlic

• Parmesan cheese

• Gently fry the chopped garlic with a bit of olive oil in a cooking pot. Add meat and mushrooms, some salt, and cook. Add paprika.

• When it is slightly cooked, add the pasta and gently fry all the ingredients together to mix the flavors.

• Add the water (twice the amount of pasta. For instance, if you used 2 cups of pasta, add 4 cups of water. You can add a bit of extra water if you like a soupy dish.)

• Add some saffron and a bit more paprika and cook for around 15-20 minutes.

• Slice parmesan cheese and place it over the fideuá before serving.

Tips:

- We used shiitake mushrooms, but any kind of mushroom will be delicious.

- The original recipe uses ‘ñora’ (dried red spicy pepper). You can use it if you like spicy flavors. Add it when slightly frying all the ingredients (step 1).

Comments

la enana (2013-03-04 13:40:11):

The recipe was delicious! I made it the other day and we loved it! I used paprika instead of pimentón because I haven’t been able to find it around here, and although the result was very good, in my opinion the flavor pimentón gives is even better.

Whole Kitchen, in their Savory Proposal for January, invites us to make a Chinese classic: sweet and sour pork.

**For us, this is THE go-to dish whenever we have Chinese food, so it couldn’t be missing from our blog. To be honest, I don’t even know exactly where I got the recipe from, because I ended up mashing together a bunch of different websites and now I can’t recall the exact source. But hey, like with any dish, the trick is to give it a go, and if there’s something you don’t love, tweak it to your taste — that’s what your own kitchen is for.

What do we need?

• 400 g (14 oz) lean pork

• 1 large onion

• 1 red bell pepper

• 1 carrot

• 4 pineapple slices

• Oil

• Salt

For the batter:

• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

• 2 tablespoons cornstarch

• 1 egg

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• Water

For the sweet and sour sauce:

• 3/4 cup sugar

• 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

• 2/3 cup water

• 1/4 cup soy sauce

• 2 tablespoons ketchup

• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

• 2 tablespoons cornstarch

How do we make it?

• First, we make the sweet and sour sauce. Put all the ingredients except the cornstarch into a medium saucepan and cook over high heat so that everything mixes and dissolves well.

• Let it come to a boil and then simmer over medium heat for a few minutes so the sauce reduces and thickens. Dissolve the cornstarch in a cup with a little water and add it to the sauce. Once it has the consistency you want, take it off the heat.

• Cut the onion and bell pepper into medium-sized squares (about 1.5 cm / 1/2 inch).

• Slice the carrot thinly on the diagonal.

• Cut the pineapple into chunks.

• In a pan with a little oil, stir-fry all the veggies (add the pineapple last). Don’t overcook them — we want them to stay crunchy.

• Once they’re ready, take them out and add them to the saucepan with the sweet and sour sauce.

• Cut the pork into bite-sized cubes (similar in size to the veggies) and season with salt.

• In a bowl, mix the two flours and the baking powder, then add the egg and very cold water. The amount of water varies, so it’s better to add it little by little until you get the texture of a light béchamel.

• While the oil heats up in a frying pan, drop the pieces of pork into the bowl with the batter.

• Once the oil is good and hot, fry the coated pieces one by one. When they’re golden, take them out onto a plate lined with paper towels.

• Finally, add the fried pork to the saucepan with the sweet and sour sauce and veggies. If the sauce has cooled down by now, warm it back up before adding the meat.

• Serve with white rice, basmati rice, or three delights fried rice.

Tips:

• When making the sweet and sour sauce, I’d recommend not pouring in all the vinegar at once, as it can come out really strong. Better to add it bit by bit, to taste.

• If the pineapple you used is canned (in its own juice), you can add that juice to the sweet and sour sauce.

• The battered meat goes in right at the end so the coating stays crispy. That’s why I recommend serving and eating it right away.

This very traditional Spanish name is just a family nickname for a delicious pork roast served with potatoes, onions, and apples. The tradition behind this dish calls for preparing it in a clay pot bought at the Pradera de San Isidro to celebrate Madrid’s patron saint day. Either way, with or without a clay pot, with or without the saint involved, the result is a super easy dish that’s perfect for a meal with several guests.

What do we need?

•   1 pork shoulder (bone-in is better)
  

•   4 apples
  

•   6 onions
  

•   8 potatoes
  

•   300 ml (1.25 cups) beer or white wine
  

•   Salt and pepper
  

How do we make it?

• Preheat the oven to 200°C (390°F)

• Place the pork shoulder on an oven tray or, preferably, in a deep clay dish. Season the whole piece with salt and pepper on both sides.

• Put the dish in the oven. Leave it for about 30 minutes so it browns at high heat, then flip the meat over. From this point on, whenever the meat looks too dry, we’ll baste it with beer or white wine.

• Meanwhile, take the chance to peel the onions and potatoes. Cut the onions in half and the potatoes into large chunks.

• Finally, add the potatoes, onions, and whole apples to the dish with the meat and lower the oven to 180°C (355°F) so it cooks slowly for about another hour and a half.

Tips:

• Every oven is its own world, so temperature and time can vary from one to another. We recommend keeping an eye on it, especially at the beginning, so the temperature stays high but doesn’t burn the meat.
• The amount of liquid you’ll need to add depends on how fast it evaporates and how much the shoulder absorbs.
• To serve, we recommend slicing the roasted meat and plating it alongside the rest of the ingredients.

[English version] ROAST PORK WITH ONIONS, POTATOES AND APPLES **Ingredients:- Pork shoulder arm roast

• 4 apples

• 6 onions

• 8 potatoes

• 300 ml (1.25 cups) beer or white wine

• Salt and pepper

• Preheat oven at 200°C (390°F)

• Put the piece of meat in a deep oven plate. Salt and pepper evenly the piece of meat

• Enter the plate in the oven and leave for 30 minutes approximately until it golden brown. Then turn upside the piece of meat. From now, start adding some white wine or beer when the meat seems to be too dry.

• Meanwhile, peal and cut the potatoes and onions. Cut half the onions and leave the potatoes in big portions.

• Finally, add potatoes, onions and apples to the oven plate with the meat and decrease the oven temperature (180°C / 355°F). Leave it baking slowly for 1h30 more approximately.

  Tips:- Every oven is different, so temperature and baking time may differ from some to others. We advice you to watch it carefully, especially at the beginning because high temperature is needed but not so much to have it burnt.

• The amount of liquid will depend on how fast it will be absorbed by the meat or evaporated.

• For serving, we recommend you to slice the meet and serve with the rest of ingredients.