Pork cheeks are one of those fairly cheap cuts of meat which are full of flavour. However, they are as tough as old boots if not cooked correctly.

I usually use the slow cooker for pork cheeks, but on this occasion I had lost track of time. On realising I only had just over 2 hours before I needed to serve them, I decided to braise them on the hob.

My collection of pans ranges from small to extremely large. I decided on my biggest frying pan which has a heavy bottom and a nice fitting lid.

.After finely slicing the onions, I heated the pan, added a splash of oil to it, and popped in my onions.

A couple of handfuls of plain flour were seasoned with salt and pepper and a sprinkle of mixed herbs. I then tossed the pork cheeks through the flour in the container that I had bought the pork in. Saves on washing up!

As I was short on time, I didn’t do the usual. Normally, I brown off the onions, remove, and brown off the meat separately. On this occasion, I pushed the onions to one side and added the cheeks to brown. Speed was of the essence!A minute or so on each side, and I was ready to move on to the next step.

A splash of red wine went in the pan, followed by sliced mushrooms. Two cloves of garlic grated, were also included. I had a red pepper which I sliced and added. 300 mls of chicken stock went in next, plus 2 dessert spoons of tomato puree.Once it came to the boil, I turned down the heat and added the lid.

It took 10 mins to get it all together which meant I had a little over 2 hours to have it ready. Would it be tender in time? Oh I hoped so?

Almost there!

After around 1.5 hours, I tipped in some tinned boiled potatoes and a few handfuls of frozen peas. It was brought back to the boil, and I turned down the heat. At this point I pulled the lid back a tad to allow steam to escape and left if for another 20 minutes. Removing the lid slightly, helps the gravy to thicken.

Done!

In spite of being short of time, it was looking good! A quick poke with a knife and it felt lovely and soft. Success!

Clearly 2 hours was plenty of time after all!

Dinner was served!

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