Braised pig cheeks with gnocchi

Pig cheeks are a delicious and economical cut, ideal for slow cooking or braising. If you have a few hours to spare this is definitely a recipe worth trying.

4 hours

4

Medium

• 4x Field & Flower pig cheeks
• 200ml red wine
• 500g potato gnocchi
• 100g mushrooms
• 2 garlic cloves
• 200ml chicken stock
• 2 celery sticks
• 3 thyme sprigs
• Knob of butter
• Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 180°C/Gas 4.

2. In a heavy bottomed roasting tray, brown the pig cheeks on all sides in a splash of olive oil.

3. Add the red wine, chicken stock, celery and 2 sprigs of thyme to the roasting tray and season the pig cheeks. Reduce the oven temperature to 160°C/Gas 3 and place the roasting tray in the oven. Allow to cook for 2 – 2 ½ hours, until the meat falls apart.

4. When the pig cheeks are almost done, heat a knob of butter in a frying pan. Fry the garlic and mushrooms with thyme leaves.

5. While the mushrooms are cooking, bring a pan of water to the boil, reduce to a simmer and gently cook the gnocchi until they rise to the surface.

6. Remove with a slotted spoon and place in an oiled pan and brown the gnocchi in a little more butter. Remove the mushrooms from the frying pan. Remove the pig cheeks from the oven and pull the meat apart using two forks.

7. Add the mushrooms back to the pan, along with the meat. Spoon onto a serving plate, season to taste and drizzle with the melted butter from the pan.