My sons gave me two cookery books for my birthday. My daugher-in-law looked a bit sceptical and asked if I was sure they were what I wanted (I do have quite a few already), but I assured her it was. I had dropped a few (many) hints in the run-up to my birthday. One of the books was Diana Henry’s new one, How to Eat a Peach, which is a beautiful collection of menus rather than recipes; it’s also a sort of memoir, an account of the places she’s travelled to since she was a teenager, and where she discovered all the dishes she loves to cook and eat. I have already cooked a few of the recipes from the book, although I haven’t yet put together a whole menu. The first thing I made was this braised pork, which I pounced on because I knew it would be perfect for the AGA simmering oven. I adjusted the quantities because there were only four of us eating and off I went.

Braised Pork with Ginger and Star Anise

Serves 4

Ingredients

For the pork

• About 1tbsp groundnut or vegetable oil
• 1kg pork shoulder, cut into 3cm cubes
• 200g shallots, sliced
• 20g fresh root ginger, peeled and finely grated
• 5 garlic cloves, finely grated or crushed
• 5 tbsps kecap manis
• 3 tbsps light soy sauce
• 11/2 tbsps tamarind paste
• 400ml chicken stock
• 1 star anise
• 2 medium-hot chillies, halved, deseeded and finely chopped
• 2 birds’ eye chillies, left whole

For the crispy fried shallots

• Groundnut or vegetable oil
• 100g shallots, finely sliced
• Sea salt flakes

Method

• Spread the pork out on a large baking tray, lined with bake-o-glide and drizzle with the oil
• Place on the top rung or on the floor of the roasting oven for 10 minutes, then remove it, turn the meat over and return the tray to the roasting oven for about 5 minutes. Your aim is to have golden brown pieces of pork; you’re not trying to turn it dark brown
• Meanwhile  get on with your shallots. Heat a tablespoon or two of oil in the casserole you want to braise your pork in. Do this on the simmering plate. Add the shallots, turn them over in the oil, put the lid on and transfer the casserole to the simmering oven for about 15 minutes until they are soft and golden
• Stir the garlic and ginger in and return the pork to the pan along with the kecap manis, soy sauce, tamarind and stock
• Bring to the boil on the boiling or simmering plate, add the star anise and all the chillies and place your casserole, uncovered, in the simmering oven for about 3 hours but, as I’m sure you know, when slow cooking in the Aga simmering oven the timing is not crucial as long as you end up with meltingly tender meat
• Remove the star anise and the whole chillies
• Meanwhile make the crispy fried shallots by heating about 2cm of oil in a small pan on the simmering plate. Add the shallots and fry, moving them around, until they are crisp and golden. Remove with a slotted spoon to a sheet of kitchen towel on a plate and sprinkle with salt
• If the liquid around the pork is not thick and glossy and seems a bit thin, remove the pork with a slotted spoon to a dish and keep it warm in the simmering oven. Boil the liquid for a while on the boiling or simmering plate until it’s reduced and then return the pork to the pan to heat through
• Serve the pork with the crispy fried shallots sprinkled over. We ate ours with rice and stir-fried pak choi

Lay the pork out on a baking tray

Brown it in the roasting oven

Kecap Manis and Light Soy Sauce

Shallots, chillies, garlic, ginger…

Chillies and star anise

Shallots

Merge the shallots with the pork

Add everything else

Stir-fried pak choi

Crispy fried shallots

The finished dish

Delicious with rice