Pork & Cider Casserole

A lovely comforting dish, this pork casserole is cooked slowly with cider and stock in the oven. It's finished off with a good splash of cream and a sprinkling of crispy bacon lardons. I love to serve it with creamy mashed potato for a dinner that has everyone asking for seconds! Non-Alcoholic Version: Cider - this is alcoholic dry cider. You can replace with dry apple juice or a mixture of dry apple juice and stock (in addition to the rest of the stock in the recipe) if you prefer. Ingredients: 2 tbsp sunflower oil 500 g (1.1lbs) diced pork shoulder ¼ tsp salt ¼ tsp ground black pepper ¼ tsp celery salt optional – I find it adds a nice savoury flavour 1 onion peeled and chopped 12 baby mushrooms chopped in half 2 carrots peeled and chopped 250 ml (1 cup) dry cider (hard cider if you're in the USA) 420 ml (1+¾ cups) chicken or vegetable stock (water + 2 stock cubes is fine) ½ tsp dried thyme 150 g (½ cup) bacon lardons or chopped streaky bacon 1 tbsp cornflour cornstarch mixed with 3 tbsp cold water 60 ml (¼ cup) double (heavy) cream 2 tbsp freshly chopped parsley To Serve Mashed potatoes Steamed kale or other green veg Instructions 1. Preheat the oven to 170C/325F. 2. Heat 1 ½ tbsp of the oil in a large casserole dish, over a high heat, until hot. 3. Add the pork, salt, pepper and celery salt and brown on all sides - it should take around 6-8 minutes. 4. Turn the heat down to medium and add in the onion. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally until the onion softens. 5. Add the mushrooms and cook for a further two minutes. 6. Add the carrots, cider, stock and dried thyme. Turn up the heat and bring to the boil. Stir and scrape up any bits that may have stuck to the bottom of the pan. 7. Place a lid on the pan, and place in the oven for 2 ½ to 3 hours*, until the pork flakes apart when you press it with a fork. Check a couple of times during the last hour of cooking and add a splash of water or stock if it's s

Uh-oh! We're unable to calculate nutrition for this recipe because some ingredients aren't recognized.