A gorgeous Sunday night stew

What better after a long day on Sunday (writing an article, going for a run, doing household chores) to settle down to a rich, moreish stew.

Stew=boring, I can hear your brain calculating. But wait – this one’s exciting. There’s no beef, no carrot, no potato. This one’s got a twist.

I mentioned it as one of my March must-haves, and I finally got a chance to try it – it’s Valentine Warner’s pork anchovy and black olive stew with polenta. (Don’t freak, anchovy-phobes: the anchovies dissolve into the sauce and only provide depth.)

I’ve adapted this slightly, switching a few things around and reducing (believe it or not) the quantities of oil the recipe calls for. It’s still bloody lovely though – shockingly so.

Pork, anchovy and black olive stew (adapted from Valentine Warner)
(serves 2 generously)

1 kg boned pork shoulder, fat removed as much as possible, and cut into medium-sized chunks (will end up about 750 g)
1 medium onion, chopped finely
1 medium bulb of fennel, chopped finely
1 tbsp olive oil
6 anchovies in olive oil
juice and peel of one lemon
3 cloves of garlic
1 tsp cinnamon
500 ml red wine
1 tbsp tomato puree
100 g dry black olives, stoned removed

for the polenta:
500g instant polenta
a splash of skimmed milk
10 sprays of olive oil
salt and pepper

for the gremolata herb topping:
handful of spinach
peel of half a lemon
1 large clove garlic

Preheat the oven to 200 C. Heat the olive oil in a cast iron pot on the hob. Add the garlic and anchovies, stirring until the anchovies are dissolved in the oil. Then add the onion, fennel, lemon peel and lemon juice and stir to coat. Allow to saute softly over a medium heat, lid on, for about 10 minutes.

Add the pieces of meat to the pot and allow them to sear on all sides, pushing the onion and fennel mixture to the edges if necessary. It will take about 5-6 minutes to make sure the pieces are seared.

Then add the cinnamon and tomato paste, stirring to coat, before pouring in the wine. Put the lid on the pot and place in the oven for about 2 hours.

After two hours, add the olives and ensure the stew hasn’t gone too dry – if it has, add a bit more red wine and stir. Cook for another 20-25 minutes with the lid off.

Prepare the polenta by dropping the instant packet into boiling water for 20 minutes (or follow the instructions on the packaging).

While the polenta’s boiling, make the pseudo-gremolata by whizzing the spinach, lemon peel and garlic in a food processor.

When the polenta’s ready, remove from the packet and mash with a fork and a little bit of milk. Season to taste, before adding to the individual plates.

When the stew’s done, ladle the mixture over the polenta before topping with the spinach-garlic-lemon topping.

The brilliant thing about this dish is that a little goes a long way. I had ¼ of the stew and 1/3 of the polenta mixture, and I was very happy full. It keeps well too – Pete’s having the rest of it tonight…

Calories for a very generous serving: about 1000
Calories for a smaller portion like the one I had above: about 590