TINGA POBLANA

This is often made with chicken, but I prefer a richer, slower-cooked pork version. The roasting of the tomatoes is very important: you need scorched flesh and a slight caramelisation.

Serves: 6

Preparation time: 35 minutes, plus soaking

Cooking time: 1 hour 50 minutes

4 dried chipotle chillies

1.3kg plum tomatoes, halved

Regular olive oil

2tsp soft light brown sugar

225g cooking chorizo

Groundnut oil (optional)

1.3kg boneless pork shoulder, cut into 3.5cm cubes

2 onions, roughly chopped

4 garlic cloves, crushed

2tsp ground cumin

4 thyme sprigs

2tsp dried oregano (preferably Mexican)

About 225ml chicken stock or water

To serve:

2 ripe avocados

Juice of 1 lime

200g sour cream

3tbsp roughly chopped coriander

150g mild, goat’s cheese (don’t use a soft and creamy cheese), or feta or Lancashire cheese, crumbled

1 Preheat oven to 190°C (170°C fan) mark 5. Cover the chipotles with just-boiled water (only enough to cover) and leave to soak.

2 Put the tomatoes, cut-sides up, into a roasting tin in a single layer. Douse

with olive oil, season and sprinkle with sugar. Roast for 45–50min, until shrunken and scorched in patches.

3 Peel off the chorizo casing; chop the meat. Heat 1tbsp groundnut oil

(or olive oil) in a frying pan; sauté the chorizo until well-coloured. Transfer to a flameproof casserole, retaining its fat in the pan. Brown pork in batches in this fat over a medium-high heat. Transfer each batch to the casserole.

4 If you don’t have enough oil left in the pan, add a little more and fry the onions until they are a good dark gold. Add the garlic and cumin and cook for 2min, then add all this to the casserole with the thyme, oregano and seasoning. Deglaze the pan with some of the stock or water (unless anything burned in it); add this to the casserole with the rest of the stock.

5 Remove chipotles from liquid (keep liquid), take off and discard the stalks, remove seeds (leave some in if you want a little more heat) and chop the flesh. Add these, with their soaking liquid, to the casserole. Bring to the boil; reduce heat to low; cook gently, partially covered, for 90min.

6 Halfway through, roughly chop the tomatoes and add them, and all their cooking juices, to the meat. By the end of the cooking time the pork should be tender and the tinga nice and thick.

7 Halve, pit and slice the avocados; peel skin from each slice. Squeeze lime juice all over and season. Put the meat into a warmed, broad bowl (or serve from the casserole) and spoon over some sour cream (serve the rest on the side). Scatter with coriander. Offer the cheese at the table.