Feeling a Little Cheeky

It's been a while since my last post! The holidays and preparation for them took up so much of my time. It's the day before New Years and I am exhausted and I was planning on something easy to make for supper. I was browsing through some of my international cookbooks last week and came upon this simple dish. The cookbook is "The Scandinavian Cookbook" by Trina Hahnemann. I thought it would be the perfect recipe to make for a winter's evening

Ms. Hahnemann is a Danish TV Chef and food writer. I was lucky enough to grab an advance copy of this book through librarything.com last year. It is a beautifully photographed cookbook with recipes arranged by season. I highly recommend it.

The recipe I chose is SO easy! Be sure to start it in advance, as the meat has to marinate at least 12 hours.  If you can't find pork cheeks, you can substitute pork shoulder as I did. I used half of the meat and half of the vegetables since there is only 2 of us.  Also, since I had some leftover mashed potatoes on hand I skipped the whole potatoes. I also thickened the sauce with a little corn starch and beef broth. Here is the original recipe:

PORK CHEEKS IN BROWN ALE (Serves 8)

The Scandinavian Cookbook, Trina Hahnemann, 2009

4 pounds pork cheek (I used pork shoulder as a substitute, cut into chunks)

3 cups brown ale or similar dark ale (I used Newcastle Brown Ale.)

1 tbsp coriander seeds

1 tbsp peppercorns

3 tbsp olive oil

10 thyme sprigs

salt and pepper

1 1/3 pounds potatoes, peeled and thickly sliced

3 carrots, peeled and thickly sliced

3 turnips, peeled and thickly sliced

In a glass or ceramic bowl, marinate the meat in the borwn ale, coriander seeds, and peppercorns for 12 hours or overnight.

The next day, remove the pork from the marinade. Heat the olive  oil in a casserole and brown the meat on all sides. Add the liquid from the marinade (I strained out the peppercorns and coriander seeds), then the thyme and some salt. reduce the heat and simmer for 1 hour.

 Add the potatoes to the casserole and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the carrots and turnips and continue cooking for another 15 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Season with the salt and pepper, then serve just as is - the taste is very full and aromatic.

Goes great with a salad and a warm loaf of crusty bread.

Enjoy!