Pork Cheeks with Caramelised Apples
This recipe is by Mark Sargeant of Claridge’s fame and is a total sensation: meltingly good pork cheeks (think slow-cooked brisket), sweet and buttery apples, clean and fresh cabbage. I love that top-end chefs are starting to look at the cheaper cuts of meat and coming up with elegant forms of presentation, and that the supermarkets in the UK have finally started to offer these as well (oxtail, beef cheeks, etc.). This dish cost £1 a head to make!
Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large frying pan. Brown 750g pork cheeks all over and finish by adding a knob of butter. Transfer to a plate. Add 1 chopped onion, 1 chopped carrot and 2 stalks celery, chopped. to the frying pan and cook until caramelised to a rich golden brown. Stir in 2 tbsp tomato puree and fry for a further minute. Add 150g honey (yes, trust Mark!), 2 cloves, 1 star anise, 1 sprig thyme and 3 bay leaves and increase the heat until the honey is bubbling. Pour the honey and vegetable mixture into an ovenproof casserole then add the browned pork cheeks and any of their juices. Season. Pour over enough of the boiling chicken stock (750ml) to cover and put on the heat to return to the boil. Cover the casserole and braise in the oven at 150c with a lid for 2-3 hours until the meat is starting to fall apart. Remove the meat from the casserole and keep warm. Strain the sauce and reduce by about 2/3 until it is the consistency you would like for a sauce. Check the seasoning.
Peel and core 2 Braeburn apples and cut them into quarters (or a bit more fiddly but elegant is to cut them in rounds). Sprinkle a small handful of sugar in a heavy-based pan. Add 25g butter and melt over a high heat until it begins to foam. Add some crushed black pepper and the apples, and tip the pan from side to side to coat the apples in the peppery butter. Cook for 5-7 minutes until evenly caramelised, turning them several times. Season with a little salt then remove from the heat to cool slightly.
I like to serve the pork cheeks with pointed Savoy cabbage, which has been lightly steamed in a covered pan with a drizzle of olive oil, and with the caramelised apples on the side.
The white wine served: Domaine Michel Juillot 1997 Mercurey Premier Cru “Les Champs Martins”
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