Cataplana

[Ishbel]

A traditional Portugese dish

Cataplana

Serves 4-6
300ml white wine
3 cloves garlic, chopped finely
1 tsp paprika
1 clove
1 bay leaf
Freshly ground salt and pepper, to your taste
500g fillet of pork, cut into 2.5cm cubes
500g diced leg of pork
100g lard (or sunflower oil, if preferred, although lard is traditional)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 tsp double concentrated tomato purée
1 tbsp chopped parsley
675g clams
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Mix the wine, garlic, paprika, clove, bay leaf and some seasoning. Add the pork, cover and leave for 2-4 hours (longer if possible).
Drain the meat, reserving the marinade. Melt the lard in a large pan over a medium heat. Add the meat in batches, and fry until golden-brown. Return all the pork to the pan. Strain the marinade and add to the pan. Cover, bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer gently for about 1.5 hours until the meat is very tender and the liquid reduced by half.
Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large casserole with a tight-fitting lid (or a Portugese cataplana dish). Add the onion and fry until soft, stir in the tomato purée and parsley. Season. Cook for a minute then add the clams and, as soon as they open, add the cooked pork and its liquid. Adjust the seasoning, then cover the pot tightly (or lock the cataplana dish). Simmer for a couple of minutes, then take to the table and serve directly from the pot.

The classic accompaniment to cataplana is fried, diced potatoes.

[buckytom]

welcome back ish.

nothing's changed. recipe looks great, as always.

[Alix]

OK, this looks wonderful. I have some pork thawing for dinner and I may give this a go. My only issue is that I work tonight and would have to leave this for Ken and the girls to finish or heat up. I don't have any clams either...hmmm... that might be an issue.

Do you think if I just did the pork and then left it in the crockpot to simmer that would be OK? I could get them to add the onion, tomato puree and parsley directly to that just before serving.

[mudbug]

seconding buckytom's sentiments. Nice to see you again, accompanied by yet another elegant recipe.