Feijoada

serves 6-8
Recipe from cookthink

Feijoada is a hearty Brazilian stew starring pork and black beans. Usually served with rice, stir-fried collard greens, a cassava flour dish called farofa and sliced oranges, it is the traditional Saturday meal. If using canned black beans, add them after the pork chops and vegetables have finished cooking.

instructions

1. In a large Dutch oven, heat the chopped bacon and the canola oil together over medium heat to render the bacon's fat. Remove the bacon when it's brown and crispy, 6 minutes. Generous season the pork chops with salt and pepper.

2. In the rendered bacon fat and canola oil mixture, brown the pork chops on both sides and repeat with the chorizo, 10-12 minutes. The pork chops and the sausage will not be cooked through. Remove to a plate and cover with aluminum foil.

3. Meanwhile, in the food processor, make an aromatic paste out of the onion, garlic, carrot, celery, peppers and parsley. Drain the liquid from the paste while the chops are browning.

4. In the Dutch oven, sauté 1 cup of the aromatic paste in the reserved fat, 5 minutes.

5. Add the reserved bacon, pork chops, chorizo and the soaked black beans. Add the whole tomatoes, their reserved liquid and the chicken broth; nestle the pork chops into the beans, making sure that they are covered with liquid -- add some water if the chops are not covered. Bring the Dutch oven to a boil, turn the heat down to low and cover tightly, simmer for 45 minutes.

6. Add the salt and stir into the feijoada, flipping over the pork chops and keeping them covered with liquid. Add the reserved chorizo sausages and the butternut and chayote squash. Cover tightly and simmer for 45 more minutes, until the pork chops are tender and the meat is easily shredded with a fork.

7. Remove the pork chops from the pot, deboning them and shredding the meat. Return to the pot, stirring the meat into the beans and lightly crushing the tomatoes with the back of a spoon. Serve sprinkled with the minced cilantro.