Today I bring you this delicious and traditional dish of Spanish cuisine, braised pork cheeks with potatoes. A dish that is traditionally served in Andalusian cuisine, although it is also very common in other areas of the Spanish geography. Cheeks are lean meat with a significant fat content, so it should be eaten in moderation.
One of the most important steps in this recipe is the previous preparation of the meat. It is very important to clean the cheeks well, removing all excess fat and washing the meat well with cold water. It is also necessary to cook without haste, since in this case, the cheeks will be much juicier if it is cooked over low heat. In addition, the meat will be able to release all its juice and the sauce will thicken naturally. Without further ado, we get down to the kitchen!
- 1 kg of Iberian pork cheeks
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 1 cebolla
- Carrots 2
- 2 Bay leaves
- 1 glass of red wine
- shawl
- pepper
- nutmeg
- extra virgin olive oil
- 4 large potatoes
- First we are going to clean the cheeks very well, removing the excess fat and washing the meat with cold water.
- We chop the cheeks into small pieces, like in one bite.
- Season the meat with salt and pepper and reserve.
- Now, we are going to cut the onion into small pieces.
- We clean the garlic and chop them.
- Peel and chop the carrot into not very thick pieces.
- We put a casserole with enough depth to the fire with a drizzle of olive oil.
- When the oil is warm, add the garlic, onion and carrots to the casserole and sauté for a couple of minutes.
- Add the two bay leaves and leave a few seconds.
- Now, we incorporate the meat and lower the heat, let it cook well over low heat for about 20 minutes.
- After that time, add the glass of red wine and let it reduce for about 15 minutes.
- Then add a glass of water and cook for another 30 minutes over low heat.
- While the meat is cooking, we are going to prepare the potatoes.
- Peel and wash the potatoes well and cut them into square pieces of a small size, similar to the cheeks.
- Fry the potatoes in hot oil and reserve on absorbent paper to remove excess fat.
- To finish, add the potatoes to the casserole and cook everything together for another 5 minutes.
- Let the stew rest for a few minutes before serving.