Braised pork cheeks with summer vegetables and cream sauce

Braiserede svinekæber med sommergrønt og flødesauce

Braised pork cheeks with summer vegetables and cream sauce

Recipe for white wine-braised pork cheeks à la fricassée – served with carrots, asparagus and peas, and boiled new potatoes.

Course Main course

Cuisine Danish

Nøgleord Braised, Pork cheeks, Slow-cooked, Summer food

Total Time 4

Servings people

Calories 883kcal

Ingredients

800 g pork cheeks – allow 2 per person
2 shallots, finely chopped (or 1 regular onion)
3 cloves garlic, grated or crushed
2 sprigs rosemary
250 ml white wine
250 ml whipping cream (38% fat)
1 l stock – vegetable or chicken
2 tbsp plain flour
50 g butter
1 tbsp oil
Salt and pepper

Summer vegetables

650 g small potatoes
4 carrots
1 bunch green asparagus
300 g peas

Instructions

Trim the pork cheeks of any sinew and blemishes.
*Feel free to leave the large membrane on one side of the pork cheeks in place. That way they keep a nicer shape – and the membrane disappears during cooking.
Melt the butter with the oil in a casserole over a medium heat and brown the pork cheeks well on all sides. Season with plenty of pepper and just a little salt.
*Be careful not to over-salt – the sauce reduces with the stock and can quickly become too salty.
Lift out the pork cheeks and sauté the shallots and garlic for a couple of minutes.
Sprinkle over the flour, stir well to combine, then pour in the white wine.
Let the white wine reduce for about 5 minutes, return the pork cheeks to the pan, then add the rosemary and the stock, and leave the pork cheeks to simmer, covered, for about 2 1/2-3 hours.
*Meanwhile you can prepare the vegetables.
Peel the carrots and trim the woody ends off the green asparagus – cut both into bite-sized pieces.
Scrub the potatoes clean – feel free to leave the skins on.
*I prefer to leave the skins on – and peel them after cooking if I want to. You can also eat them with the skins on, or peel them before cooking – it's up to you.
When there is 1/2 hour of the cooking time left, put the potatoes on.
Bring the potatoes to the boil in a pan of plenty of well-salted cold water, with a few peppercorns and some herbs added if you have them.
Boil them over a medium heat for about 5 min., covered.
Turn off the heat and leave the potatoes to finish cooking in the water, covered – for about 15 min.
*Cooking your potatoes this way gives you a lovely firm potato that doesn't fall apart. The time naturally depends on the size of the potatoes – so test them with a skewer once they have stood for 10 min. If they are still very hard, simply turn the heat back on for a couple of minutes – you quickly learn to judge the cooking time once you have done it a few times. If they only need a little more, leave them to stand in the water, covered.
Pour the cream and the carrots in with the pork cheeks and let them simmer for about 20 minutes.
Then add the green asparagus and the peas, and let them simmer for 3-5 minutes.
Season the sauce to taste with salt and pepper – and serve the dish with the boiled potatoes and, if you like, a sprinkling of fresh parsley and freshly ground pepper on top.
You can also add a little freshly squeezed lemon juice to taste – it gives the sauce a lovely freshness.

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