Pork Stew With Dumplings

Any seasonal root vegetables can be used for this hearty stew. Serve with a bright vegetable to add colour to the plate. This is a recipe from Louise Walker’s Four Seasons cookbook.

Pork Stew With Dumplings

Ingredients

25g dripping or lard

2 large onions, peeled and chopped

700g potatoes, diced

225g root veg, diced

4 sticks of celery chopped

8 pork chops

25g seasoned flour

600ml (1 pint) chicken or vegetable stock

1 bay leaf

Suet dumplings:

225g plain flour

½ tsp baking powder

Salt

115g shredded suet

2 tbsp chopped parsley

Water to mix

Serves 8

Method

1. Melt the dripping in a frying pan on the boiling plate or hot plate on boiling setting and fry the onions, potatoes, turnips and celery until softening. Drain and transfer to a casserole dish.

2. Dip the chops in the seasoned flour and brown in the hot frying pan. Lay the chops on the top of the vegetables. Add the stock to the pan and bring to the boil and pour over the meat. Add the bay leaf. Cover the casserole and bring to the boil. Transfer to the floor grid placed on the floor of the simmering oven for 1-1 ½ hours.

3. Meanwhile, make the suet dumplings. Place all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix with enough water to make a soft, but manageable, dough and then form into 8 dumplings. Remove the casserole from the oven and place the dumplings on top of the gravy. Replace the lid and put the casserole on the shelf on the floor of the roasting oven or oven on R8 setting for 20-30 minutes, until the dumplings have risen.

Conventional cooking: Fry off the vegetables and chops on the hotplate. Bring the casserole contents to the boil on the hotplate then transfer to the oven at 150ºC (300ºF), fan oven 130ºC, Gas Mark 2 for about 1½ hours. Turn the oven up to 200ºC (400ºF), fan oven 180ºC, Gas Mark 6. Place the dumplings on top of the casserole contents, replace the lid and return to the oven for 20-30 minutes, until the dumplings have risen.

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