Pork shoulder with butter beans, tomato and sage

Pork shoulder is my favourite cut of pork and benefits from slow cooking. I prefer to cook it on the bone but you can get it boned and rolled. It is worth sourcing good pork because there’s a world of difference between intensively-farmed pork and that which has been reared with care and respect. Good butchers, farm shops and farmers’ markets will also often have rare-breed pork available from such breeds as Gloucester Old Spot and Saddleback. If you try them, it’s unlikely you’d be disappointed.

Serves four to six

1kg to 1½kg pork shoulder
One tin butter beans
One tin chopped tomatoes
One onion – peeled and diced
A stick of celery - diced
Two carrots – peeled and diced
100g fresh sage leaves
Extra virgin rapeseed oil
Salt
Freshly-ground black pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 200°C (gas mark 6)

Place the pork in a roasting dish with a little salt and pepper and a wineglass of water. Place in the oven and, after about twenty minutes, turn it down to 150°C (gas mark 2). Leave for a total cooking time of about four hours, pouring a little more water in every now and then if it runs dry. When it’s cooked, you should be able to almost scoop the meat apart with a couple of spoons.

While it’s cooking, put a little oil in a saucepan and sweat the onion, celery and carrot over a low heat until soft, making sure they don’t brown. Then add the tinned tomatoes and butter beans along with the sage leaves. Cook over a low heat for a further ten minutes or so and adjust the seasoning with little salt and pepper.

To serve, reheat the bean stew if necessary. Roughly divide the meat into portions, spoon the stew into warmed serving bowls, place the meat on top, scatter a little rapeseed oil over and around accompanied by a little black pepper.