Carne Porco à Alentejana

Carne de Porco à Alentejana (Portuguese Pork, Littleneck Clams and Potatoes) If you’re a meat lover, this traditional Portuguese dish is not to be missed. Carne de Porco à Alentejana is one of the most traditional (and widely popular) pork dishes in all of Portugal. However, don’t let the name fool you – this dish actually originates from the Algarve region.

The key to Carne de Porco à Alentejana is in the slow cooking, where pork is marinated for around four 24 hours and then fried alongside clams and served with potatoes. This is a delicious recipe served with black olives.

Made with our own Torresmos Seasoning Mix

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds boneless pork butt (cut into 2″ cube pieces)
• 24 littleneck clams in the shell (scrubbed)
• 2 pounds potatoes (peeled and cut into quarters)
• Oil for frying potatoes
• 2 tablespoon tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Marinade:

• 1 package of Torresmos Seasoning Mix
• ½ cup red wine (red port wine or other sweet, rich red wine)
• ½ cup white wine (white port wine or other sweet, rich white wine )
• ½ cup of water

Garnish:
Black olives and parsley

Directions:

1. Mix marinade ingredients in a bowl, add pork, and marinate in refrigerator for 24 hours.
2. Deep fry or pan fry potatoes at 375 F. degrees for 12 minutes. When potatoes are cooked let drain on paper towels or brown paper bag. Shake a little salt and pepper over cooked potatoes while they cool, set aside.
3. In a large sauce pan, heat vegetable oil on medium high heat. Add marinated pork and brown on all sides. Save marinade.
4. Remove pork from pan as you brown meat and set aside.
5. When all the pork is cooked, deglaze the pan with the saved marinade.
6. Add tomato paste to pan, stir and mix well.
7. Add the cooked pork back to the pan, stir. Bring pan up to a boil, then add clams on top of the pork, distributing them as evenly as possible. Cover and cook about 20 minutes or until clams open.
8. Add cooked potatoes to pan on top of clam, pork and potatoes and serve.