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:
- Mix marinade ingredients in a bowl, add pork, and marinate in refrigerator for 24 hours.
- 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.
- In a large sauce pan, heat vegetable oil on medium high heat. Add marinated pork and brown on all sides. Save marinade.
- Remove pork from pan as you brown meat and set aside.
- When all the pork is cooked, deglaze the pan with the saved marinade.
- Add tomato paste to pan, stir and mix well.
- 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.
- Add cooked potatoes to pan on top of clam, pork and potatoes and serve.