Pork osso buco with orange gremolata

Amidst all the herb excitement last weekend I found time to cook this satisfying stew. You may remember I discovered pork osso buco at Waitrose a few months back. And that I reckoned it needed slightly different treatment from veal osso buco. Well, this was the result. I loved the effect of the orange gremolata with the slightly sweet, spicy pork. The meat btw is still only £3.99 a kilo.

Serves 4

3 tbsp olive oil or other cooking oil
1kg pork osso buco
1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 large carrot, peeled and finely chopped
1 stick of celery, trimmed and finely sliced (optional)
1 small red pepper, quartered, de-seeded and diced
2 cloves of garlic peeled and crushed
1 tsp sweet pimenton/paprika + 1/2 tsp hot pimenton or hot paprika or chilli sauce
1/2 x 400g tin of chopped or whole tomatoes
225ml chicken or vegetable stock made with 1 tsp vegetable bouillon powder
1 tbsp red or white wine vinegar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the gremolata
Grated rind of one orange, preferably unwaxed
1 clove of garlic, very finely chopped
1 heaped tbsp chopped mint
3 heaped tbsp chopped parsley

Heat the oil in a casserole and brown the pieces of pork on each side. Remove from the pan, tip in the vegetables and garlic, turn down the heat, cover and cook over a low heat for about 7-8 minutes until beginning to soften. Stir in the pimenton or paprika then the tomatoes (breaking them up if whole). Add the stock and vinegar, bring to the boil then return the meat to the pan and bring back up to simmering point. Cover the pan and cook over a very low heat or in a low oven for about 2-2 1/2 hours until the meat is coming away from the bone* Take the meat out of the casserole and set aside. Strain the liquid and put the veg in a food processor or blender and whizz until smooth. Add as much of the liquid as you need to make a smooth thin sauce. Return the meat to the pan and heat through in the sauce. Make the gremolata. Combine the ingredients and chop them together so they are well combined. Serve the pork with new potatoes, rice or couscous, sprinkling over the gremolata.

* I also reckon this would work really well with boneless pork as a quick sautéed dish. Slightly more expensive but not a lot. Oh, and the vegetables at the back of the rather blurry picture were a reduced (99p) pack of root veg which I roasted instead of making a stew out of them. That worked well too.