Bochechas de Porco em Vinho Tinto (Pork Cheeks with Red Wine)

Ingredients :

- 520 g of pork cheeks

- 60g of carrots
- 80 g of mushrooms

- 50g of shallots

- 70 g of french garlic

- 2 garlic cloves

- olive oil

- 1 stem of thyme

- 1 laurel leaf

- 4 grains of jamaican pepper

- 2 grains of zimbro

- 6 dl of red wine

- 2 tbsp of flour
- 1 celery bulb
- 2 garlic cloves

- cream
- water
- milk
- 8 asparagus

- salt

1- Let the meat marinate in the red wine along with the chopped shallots, carrots, mushrooms, 1 garlic clove and french garlic and with the pepper, zimbro and laurel for at least 10 hours.

2- Remove the meat from the marinade and fry with a little bit of olive oil, quickly on both sides until they are golden. Season with salt and remove from the pan. Do the same with the vegetables. Put the meat back in the pan and pour in the red wine and add some water if needed and let it cook for 3 hours, in medium-low heat.

3- After that, remove the cheeks from the pan and pass the broth through a strainer.

4- Peel the celery bulb and cut in small pieces and put them in a pan. Add water, milk, thyme and a crushed garlic. Let in boil for 30 minutes and them add salt, pepper and cream until it has the consistency you want.

5- In separate pans, fry the celery purée and the cheeks and fry the asparagus just for 2 min in high heat.

6- Add a little bit of butter to the meat broth and heat it a little bit and then pour it in on top of the cheeks. Serve with the celery purée and the asparagus and a good portuguese red wine (alentejano, de preferência ;)). Enjoy!

(Suggestion of the Restaurant "100 Maneiras")