Pasta with white wine-braised pork cheeks, cream and chanterelles
Recipe for tender braised pork cheeks served with chanterelles, cream and crushed pork crackling.
Servings 4 people
Ingredients
Pork cheeks
- 800 g pork cheeks, allow 2 per person
- 2 carrots
- 2 onions
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 1/2 l chicken stock, - made with 2 stock cubes
- 300 ml dry white wine
- 200 ml whipping cream (38% fat)
- 2 sprigs rosemary
- 3 sprigs thyme
- Salt and pepper
- A little oil
- Gravy browning (optional)
To serve
- 4-500 g pasta
- 200 g chanterelles
- 1 handful pork crackling, roughly chopped - try this recipe
- Oil
- Finely chopped chives
- Lavender flowers (optional)
Instructions
- Trim the pork cheeks, removing any sinew and gristle. *Leave the large membrane on one side of the cheeks in place if you like. That way they keep a neater shape, - and the membrane melts away during cooking.
- Clean the vegetables, then cut the carrots and onions into large chunks, crush the garlic cloves and tie the herbs into a bundle.
- Heat a good glug of oil in a large pot and brown the pork cheeks well on all sides, - season with salt and pepper.
- Add the carrots, onions and garlic and fry for a couple of minutes.
- Add the bundle of herbs, pour in the white wine, - and let it reduce for about 10 minutes.
- Pour in the stock and let the pork cheeks simmer over a low to medium heat for 2 1/2-3 hours, - depending on their size. *Leave the lid off if you can, so the stock reduces well at the same time.
- When the pork cheeks are tender, set them aside on a plate.
- Strain the stock through a fine-mesh sieve and pour it into a small saucepan.*Keep the large pot for frying the chanterelles in.
- Add the whipping cream and let the sauce simmer and thicken while you prepare the rest of the dish.*Season to taste with salt and pepper, - and adjust the colour with a little gravy browning if needed.
- Cook the pasta al dente according to the packet instructions, and meanwhile fry the chanterelles in a little oil over a high heat. Set them aside on a piece of kitchen paper.
- Return the pork cheeks to the pot the chanterelles were just fried in, pour over half the sauce, - and turn gently to coat.
- Drain the pasta, pour over the rest of the sauce along with half the chanterelles, and toss well.
- Arrange the pasta on 4 plates, place 2 pork cheeks on each and top with the remaining fried chanterelles.
- Spoon a couple of small spoonfuls of sauce over the pork cheeks, and scatter with the chopped pork crackling, finely chopped chives and, if you like, the flowers from a couple of lavender sprigs - they give the dish a stunning colour.*The sauce left in the pot from the pork cheeks is well worth a quick blitz with a stick blender, - it will froth up as you can see in the picture.
- Season with freshly ground pepper and serve immediately.