Easy Spanish Recipe: Magra con tomate

With the chilly winter nights – it’s good to have an easy recipe that will warm your cockles. Magra con tomate is pork cooked in a  tomato sauce and it hails from Murcia. This stewlike dish is fantastic served with chunks of crusty bread and plenty of wine. Enjoy!

I cook this in a cazuela (earthenware dish) but you could just as easily do it in a casserole dish or a large saucepan

Ingredients for Magra con Tomate (serves 2)

• a couple of pork chops, cut into half inch pieces
• 2 standard sized cans of peeled tomatoes (get chopped if you like – saves you a job later on)
• 2 medium roasted red peppers, finely diced… or about 3 or 4 gorgeous pimenton piquillos
• 1 medium green pepper, finely diced
• 1 medium onion – the sweeter the better – finely diced
• 4 to 6 garlic cloves (dependant upon your palate) finely chopped or in wafer thin slices
• Tablespoon or two of smoky paprika
• Couple of hearty glugs of olive oil (not extra virgin… just normal)
• Splash of wine (I use white, but I guess red would work well too)

Method for Magra con Tomate

• Pop the oil into your pan and bring up to a medium high heat
• Throw in the diced pork, and cook until browed all over. Turn that heat down if need be, so you don’t burn it.
• Remove the pork to one side, but leave as much of the oil in the pan as you can
• Throw in the onion, and two types of pepper
• Turn the heat down almost immediately, and sweat gently until the veggies are almost translucent and cooked through
• Add the garlic, stir well and cook for a couple more minutes
• Add your tinned tomatoes – mashing them up if they are whole ones
• Sprinkle in the paprika, chuck the pork back in, and add a bit of salt and pepper if you prefer.
• Cover and simmer for about 20 minutes.
• I like to turn the heat down as low as it will go and cook it slower for longer – entirely up to you!
• If you have a logburner stove… even better! Brown the meat and sweat your veggies – then cover and leave it on your burner to cook slowly for as long as you want to.
• Serve hot.

Of course you can chop and change some of the ingredients (like beef instead of pork) or have different veggies (diced carrots work well) but then it’s not really a magra. It doesn’t matter though – the important thing is that you end up with a tasty hot dish to add to your evening.

This freezes well, just make sure it is defrosted completely before you reheat it.

As I type, I’m doing my annual wheat and dairy free detox for a month. So instead of having the bread… I like to whip up some patatas bravas – recipe HERE. It also works really well with rice or mashed potatoes

¡Disfruta!