On the Continent wild boar is a favourite autumn and winter dish. It is harder to get hold of here, but marinating diced shoulder of pork produces a good substitute . . .
For the marinade
150ml Red wine
1 Onion
2 Cloves garlic
3 Sprigs rosemary
2 Tablespoons fresh thyme
1 Bay leaf
10 Juniper berries
For the casserole
1kg Diced shoulder of pork
2 Carrots
1 Tin cherry tomatoes
2 Sticks celery
1 Onion
2 Large shavings of orange zest
50g Dried porcini
200g Button mushrooms
Flour
Give the marinade ingredients a quick whizz in a food processor to release the oils from the herbs and spices, then soak the pork in the liquid for at least 12 hours. Then remove the pork and strain and reserve the liquid. Meanwhile, soak the porcini in boiling water for 20 minutes. Strain the resulting stock into the marinade and soak the mushrooms again in boiling water. Add this weaker stock to the marinade (keep doing this until the stock is too weak to bother repeating the exercise).
Roll the pork in seasoned flour and brown lightly in a little olive oil. Remove from the pan and place in a casserole dish. Chop up the carrots, celery and onion and fry lightly in the meat juices, before adding this sofritto to the pork. Lightly brown the button mushrooms and put to one side. Pour some of the marinade into the frying pan to soak up the juices, then pour this into the casserole. Add the cherry tomatoes and orange zest. Cover everything with the rest of the marinade and top up with mushroom stock, red wine or hot water – whether you throw away the reconstituted mushrooms or add them to the casserole is a matter of personal taste. Pop into a low oven (150C) for two or three hours. Twenty minutes before serving add the mushrooms to the casserole and season to taste. Serve with good quality ‘ribbon’ pasta.
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