Pork with Prunes, Olives and Capers
‘This recipe has rather a chequered history. I had been playing about with an old Joy Of Cooking recipe for Chicken Marbella and, after much tinkering, decided to transfer many of the elements and turn it into a pork casserole. It makes sense: pork and prunes are a time-honoured combination, after all, and porc aux pruneaux was one of my earliest introductions to French home cooking. This is a very different iteration – the molasses sweetness of the prunes is robustly countered by the sharp saltiness of capers – a great many of them, at that – and olives, and bolstered by a generous heap of oregano. What you end up with is a heady, tangy, richly flavoured stew, with a gravy that is almost more of a sour-sweet broth.’
Hands-on time 10min, plus overnight marinating Cooking time about 2hr Serves 4-6
1.5kg (3¼lb) boneless pork shoulder, diced for a stew 375ml (13fl oz) dry white wine 200g (7oz) soft dried pitted prunes 75g (3oz) pitted black olives 100g (3½oz) capers, plus 1tbsp of juice from the jar 4tbsp dried oregano 2½tsp sea salt flakes A good grinding of pepper 250ml (9fl oz) chicken stock to serve
Fresh oregano
Put the pork into a large freezer bag, followed by the wine, prunes, olives, capers and their juice, dried oregano, salt and pepper. Seal the bag, then put into a shallow dish in the fridge and marinate overnight.
Before cooking it, make sure to
take out of the fridge in time to get the chill off it; depending on the weather, this should take around 1½hr. Preheat your oven to 170°C (150°C fan) mark 3.
3 Tip the pork and marinade into a wide, heavy-based casserole dish that comes with a lid; the pork will cook more evenly if it is in a relatively shallow layer in the pan. Add the chicken stock, give the pan a stir, then put on the lid and cook in the oven for 2hr, by which time the pork should be tender.
4 Tear the leaves from a few sprigs of fresh oregano and scatter over the stew before serving.
GET AHEAD Refrigerate cooled stew, within 2 hours of cooking, in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Reheat in a large casserole dish over a low heat until piping hot all the way through. Reheat only once.
FREEZE In airtight containers for up to 3 months. Defrost overnight in the fridge and reheat as above.