Tonight’s dinner – Pan fried British Pork shoulder on bed of asparagus risotto

 

We just moved into a spacious flat by the river in Newcastle! Although we don’t have much furniture yet we still struggle to move our belongings (including a table and a 40’ TV) up to our 3^rd floor walk up.

It’s been two days of walking back and forth non stop, . So we just wanted to stay in for the night! We have got some Pork shoulder earlier and this is going to be the main of tonight’s dinner.

It’s easy, and tasty!

Ingredients

(for Pan fried British Pork shoulder)

Olive oil

butter

Garlic

Herb de Provence

Sea salt / Salt de Fleur

British Pork shoulder

Ingredients (for risotto)

Olive oil

6 tbsp white wine

700ml Vegetable / Chicken stock

8 steams of baby Asparagus ( 2 cut in half, others cut in 3 pieces)

200g Risotto rice

A quarter of onion (finely chopped)

Parmesan cheese

1 clove of garlic (no need to mince or chop)

Preparation-

Season the Pork Shoulders in olive oil, salt, pepper and herb de Provence on both sides.

Direction-

1.Starting with the risotto, bring about 700ml vegetable stock / chicken stock to boil and then turn the heat down to the lowest setting so it simmers. Add the baby asparagus and cook for 6 -7 minutes. When time is up, set aside the asparagus and keep the stock simmer.

2. Heat a frying pan, pour in some olive oil and a clove of garlic. Put in the finely chopped onion, cook for 2 mins. Then the risotto rice, coat them nicely with the oil for 2 minutes. Remove the clove of garlic. Add the white wine, stir until absorbed. Then ladle a scoop of stock to the pan and stir until the rice has absorbed the stock, then repeat until the risotto rice is cooked to the texture you’d like, which should take you about 20 mins.

3.While doing so, we will start frying the Pork Shoulder. Heat a frying pan, when it is hot enough, put in whatever amount of oil you usually do, except this time use half olive oil and the other half, substitute with butter. I use about 2-3 tbsp olive oil usually (depending on the material of your frying pan you might need more or less oil). So, in my case, I am using 1 tbsp of olive oil, and a small cube of butter.

4.Then smash a clove of garlic with the side of your knife and add to the pan, use high head and move it around a little bit to release its flavour, then put your pork shoulder chops into the pan. Cook for 4-5 mins or adjust accordingly depending on how thick your pork shoulder is. When the first side is browned, turn to the other side and do the same. When both sides are browned, turn the heat to medium setting and cook through. It should take about 15 mins and the inside should be still a little bit pink. Turn off heat and let it rest to keep the juice in while you do the final steps for your risotto.

**If you’re not sure if it is cooked through or not, use a food thermometer to make sure it is at least 62.8 °C / 145 °F before you turn off the heat.

5. By this time, you risotto is done already. Add in the asparagus (except the 2 stems which as cut in half), and some freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

 

To present your dish nicely, Use a round cookie cutter to make a bed of risotto. Lay the Pork shoulder chops on, and lay 2 halves of asparagus in a cross on top of your pork shoulders.

Et Viola!

Image source Google