Michael and Rachel's

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Pork Shoulder Stew

Updated: 25 Apr 2015

Ingredients

  • 75g butter
  • 3 medium carrots
  • 3 celery sticks
  • 2 onions
  • 3 tablespoons fresh parsley
  • 1 teaspoon fresh thyme
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 3 rashers streaky bacon
  • 1 heaped tbsp. tomato puree
  • 600g pork shoulder
  • 125ml red wine
  • 100g pearl barley, rinsed thoroughly
  • Sea salt
  • N.B this makes 4 or 5 generous portions and can be scaled down accordingly.

Method

  1. Melt the butter in a casserole dish. Add the veg, herbs, bacon, and some pepper. Fry over a medium heat, stirring regularly, for about 10 minutes. When softened and becoming tender with only the faintest catching (not browning or burning) add the tomato puree and cook for another minute. Then add the pork shoulder and stir.
  2. Stir in the wine and allow to simmer for a minute. Add enough water to come up to the level of the mixture; bring to a simmer. Cover with the lid and cook for 1 hour 45 minutes until the pork is tender (may take 2 hours depending on size of pork). Check and add more water if necessary. Thirty minutes before the end of the cooking time, add the pearl barley.
  3. When cooked, the stew should be moist rather than wet. Season with salt / pepper and serve with some additional thyme sprigs.