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Sunday Dinner – Provençale Pork and Vegetable Stew
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Serves 4
Prep time: 30 minutes Total time: 90 minutes |
- 1 lb. potatoes (we like Yukon Gold)
- 3 medium carrots
- 1 lb. kale or collard greens
- 36 pearl onions (if the work of peeling scares you, use 6 yellow onions, but they’re not as nice…)
- 2 bunches fresh thyme
- 2 bunches rosemary
- 2 lbs. blade end or pork shoulder or bone-in pork loin
- Two 15 oz. cans small white beans
- 1 loaf day-old crusty bread, like a sourdough or a great baguette
- 1 loaf fresh bread
Shopping List
- Bay leaves
- 9 garlic cloves
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- Peppercorns
- Sea salt
- Red wine vinegar
Pantry Items
- Bread knife
- Chef’s knife
- Dutch oven
- Kitchen twine
- Large stockpot or pasta pot
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Mixing bowls
- Paring knife
- Strainer
- Tongs
- Vegetable Peeler
- Whisk
- Wooden spoons
Tools
- Wine: Côtes du Rhône red (You might want 2 bottles – this is a dish for a long, leisurely Sunday afternoon or evening!)
- Dessert: Simple Chocolate Cake
- Note that this meal starts with a bowl of wonderful vegetable broth, which you eat before you eat the pork and vegetables.
- You’ll have leftovers for lunch on Monday, lucky you!
Suggestions
- When you walk in the door
- Don’t refrigerate the pork
- Get out Pantry Items
- Get out Tools
- Assemble the ingredients
- Open the wine
- Prep
- Peel the potatoes and cut them in half if they are medium size, in quarters if they’re large.
- Peel the carrots and cut them into medium dice.
- Peel the garlic. Mince 4 of the cloves.
- Peel the pearl onions. (If you’re using medium onions, peel them but leave the root end attached, cut them in quarters.)
- Rinse and trim the kale or collards. Cut the leaves into 1/2-inch wide strips, and dice the stems.
- Make 2 herb bundles. Tie 10 sprigs thyme, 5 sprigs rosemary, and 2 bay leaves together with kitchen twine for each bundle.
- Put the pork in the Dutch oven with one herb bundle, 1-1/2 tsps. sea salt, and 10 peppercorns. Cover it with water.
- Drain and rinse the beans.
- Slice the day old bread and rub the slices with a clove of garlic. Put a slice into each of 4 soup bowls.
- Start Cooking
- Put the pork over medium-high heat. When the water comes to a boil, reduce the heat so it’s boiling merrily and cook for about 1 hour, until the meat is cooked through.
- Put the potatoes, the carrots, 4 cloves of garlic, 10 peppercorns and the other herb bundle into a stockpot.
- Add 12 cups water and 1 tbsp. salt and put over high heat. When the water boils, reduce the heat so the water is boiling gently and cook for 10 minutes.
- Add the onions, the kale or collards, and the beans. Cook until the vegetables are tender but not mushy, about 25 minutes (check the vegetables after 15 or 20 minutes – you really don’t want them to be mushy!).
- While everything is boiling away, make the vinaigrette. Put 2/3 cup vinegar in a medium bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste, and the 4 cloves minced garlic.
- Slowly whisk in 1 cup olive oil. Strip about 1 tbsp. leaves of thyme, coarsely chop them and add them to the vinaigrette. Put half the vinaigrette in a large serving bowl. Reserve the other half.
- Set the table. Don’t forget soup spoons, because you’re going to serve the vegetable cooking broth as a soup, before you serve the pork and vegetables.
- Check the veggies – if they’re tender remove them from the broth and put them into the serving bowl with the vinaigrette. Toss gently. Keep them warm.
- Check the pork. If it is cooked through (140F), remove it from the water and let it rest on a cutting board for at least 15 minutes. If it isn’t, let it continue to cook while you enjoy the vegetable broth.
- Taste the broth, and adjust it. Call everyone to the table.
- Pour broth into the bowls with the bread in them. Serve, eat, tell everyone to relax while you prepare the pork to be served (get someone to help you).
- If the pork is still cooking, remove it from the water. And let it sit while you slice the loaf of fresh bread and put it into a basket.
- Thickly slice the pork and put it on a warm platter. Drizzle it with the remaining vinaigrette and garnish the platter with some herbs.
- Toss the veggies once more, and either serve them, or pile them around the pork – it’s prettier this way, but you need a large platter.
- Serve right away. Don’t forget the wine!
