Pork Stew with Lentils, Celery and Shiitake Mushrooms

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.

Pork Stew with Lentils, Celery and Shiitake MushroomsPrep 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:

  1. 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.
  2. Push the bacon to one side of the pan, add pork and continue to cook uncovered until pork is lightly browned.
  3. Remove the stems from the dried shiitake mushrooms and break the caps into halves or thirds.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. Stir in the heavy cream, bring to a simmer and cook uncovered until the sauce thickens a bit.
  7. 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