Pork Stew with Lentils, Celery and Shiitake Mushrooms is tasty and comforting. Humble pork and lentils receives a wonderful boost from often-overlooked celery and unexpected shiitake mushrooms. Colorful and very aromatic celery leaves provide a beautiful and tasty finish for this delicious stew which will become a staple of your culinary repertoire from autumn through winter. We recommend starting out with a simple appetizer, like Wilted Arugula Salad or Sicilian Orange Salad. Pork Stew with Lentils, Celery and Shiitake Mushrooms is great leftover and heated-up for lunch the next day, just stir a little warm water into it prior to reheating.
Prep Time: 1 hour 10 minutes, Total Time: 3 hours 10 minutes, Serves: 4 to 6
Ingredients:
- 4 Tbs Cooking Oil, recommend using an Olive/Canola Oil blend
- 4 slices smoked Bacon, sliced cross-wise into thin ¼-inch wide strips
- 1 ½ lbs. Pork Stew Meat or Pork Cushion Meat, cut into roughly 1-inch chunks
- 4 cups Celery, thinly sliced
- 4 oz Shallots, peeled, trimmed and finely diced
- 3 Garlic cloves, minced
- 1 Tb dried Sage
- 1 tsp dried Thyme
- 1 tsp ground Fennel
- 3 Bay Leaves, preferably fresh
- ½ tsp coarse Sea Salt
- 1 Tb coarsely-ground Black Pepper
- 1 cup dry Red Wine
- 2 cups low-sodium or unsalted Chicken Stock
- 12 dried Shiitake Mushrooms
- 1 cup Brown Lentils, sorted through for debris and rinsed
- ½ cup Heavy Cream
- 4 Tbs roughly chopped Celery Leaves
Preparation:
- Into a heavy-bottom, wide and deep pan or Dutch oven, add the cooking oil and heat on a medium-high heat; add the bacon and sauté uncovered until the fat starts to render and the bacon begins to crisp.
- Push the bacon to one side of the pan, add pork and continue to cook uncovered until pork is lightly browned.
- Remove the stems from the dried shiitake mushrooms and break the caps into halves or thirds.
- Add celery, shallots and garlic to the pork, reduce heat to medium-low and cook stirring occasionally. When vegetables soften, add sage, thyme, fennel, bay leaves, sea salt and black pepper. Stir to mix and cook covered for 3 minutes.
- Add the red wine, stir and bring to a simmer. Add the chicken stock and stir in the dried shiitake mushroom pieces and lentils; raise the heat and bring to a rolling boil. Cover and cook on low for 2 hours, until pork and lentils are tender. Check periodically, adding more chicken stock or water, if necessary.
- Stir in the heavy cream, bring to a simmer and cook uncovered until the sauce thickens a bit.
- Remove the stew from the heat; remove and discard the bay leaves. Spoon the stew into individual rimmed bowls or to a wide large bowl to serve at the table. Scatter the chopped celery leaves on top just prior to serving.
Adapted from Florence Fabricant, New York Times