Portugese Slow Roasted Pork Neck

Name: Portugese Slow Roasted Pork Neck
Ingredients: 1,4 kg pork neck; 10 garlic cloves, peeled; 10 black olives, pitted; salt and black pepper to taste; 45 ml (3 tablespoons) butter; 15 ml (1 tablespoon) vegetable oil; 15 ml (1 tablespoon) fresh thyme leaves; tomato sauce:; 15 ml (1 tablespoon) butter; 5 ml (1 teaspoon) oil; 1 onion, finely copped; 1 garlic clove, finely chopped; 350 g tomatoes, peeled and roughly chopped; 500 ml (2 cups) chicken stock; 1 bay leave; few parsley sprigs; 60 ml (4 tablespoons) white wine; 125 ml (1/2 cup) pimento stuffed olives; 30 ml (2 tablespoons) parsley, finely chopped

Ask your butcher for pork neck. Slow roasted in the oven and then braised in a tomato sauce, it is meltingly tender and ideal to serve when you are entertaining a crowd. It tastes great with mashed potatoes or spicy rice.

Published 16 December 2021

Method

Preheat oven to 180 ºC (350 ºF).
Tie the pork with string to keep its shape while roasting. Using a sharp pointed knife, make 10 holes in the pork neck. Stuff each hole with a garlic clove and a black olive. Season the pork with salt and black pepper.
Heat butter and oil in a large saucepan and brown the meat on all sides. Transfer the pork to a roasting tin and sprinkle with the thyme leaves. Roast the pork for 2 hours. Cover the pork with aluminum foil after 1 hour.
Make the tomato sauce. Sauté the onion and garlic in the butter and oil for 5 minutes. Add the tomato, stock, bay leave and parsley sprigs. Simmer the sauce over low heat for 30 minutes. Add the wine and green olives.
Cut the pork neck into thick slices and transfer to an ovenproof serving dish. Spoon the tomato sauce over the pork and return to the oven to cook for 20 minutes. Garnish with chopped parsley and serve immediately.