Selsko meso

Ingredients

• Pork shoulder — diced700 g
• Mushrooms400 g
• Onions2
• Bell pepper2
• Dry white wine200 ml
• Tomato paste2 tbsp
• Kashkaval cheese200 g
• Garlic4 clove
• Paprika1 tbsp
• Vegetable oil60 ml
• Parsley20 g
• Salt and pepperto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Brown the diced pork in oil on all sides.

   12 min

2. 2

   Add the onion and pepper and fry until soft, seven minutes.

   9 min

3. 3

   Add the mushrooms and cook over a high heat for five minutes, until their water has gone.

   7 min

4. 4

   Take it off the heat, stir in the paprika, garlic and tomato paste, add the wine and return it to the heat for three minutes.

   6 min

5. 5

   Divide between clay pots, top up with water to the level of the meat, season and cover.

   8 min

6. 6

   Bake at 180 °C for fifty minutes.

   52 min

7. 7

   Take the lids off, cover with grated kashkaval and give it ten more minutes, to a browned cheese crust.

   12 min

About the dish

It is cooked in portions, in small pots, and served in them. That is not presentation: in a small volume the meat and mushrooms trade flavour more closely than in a shared pan.

The pork is browned before stewing. Without that step both the meat and the sauce stay pale and the pot turns watery.

The cheese goes on ten minutes before the end, in the oven. It should melt and colour rather than cook down into the sauce.

Worth knowing

• — Fry the mushrooms separately if the pan is small. Crowded in with the meat they release water and the pork stews instead of browning.
• — Kashkaval can be replaced by any semi-hard melting cheese. Brined white cheese will not do — it does not stretch and stays grainy.
• — Unglazed clay pots go into a cold oven. Sudden heat cracks them.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

640 kcal

Protein

44 g

Fat

40 g

Carbs

16 g

More from North Macedonia

• Tavče gravče — White beans baked in a clay pan with onion, paprika and peppers. North Macedonia's national dish.