Carne de Porco à Alentejana — Pork with Clams

A famous surf-and-turf of marinated pork and clams in a garlicky white wine sauce, served with fried potatoes.

TIME BREAKDOWN
Prep: 30 min
Cook: 40 min
Total: 1 hour 10 minutes
Vegetarian
❌
Nuts
❌
Serves
4 people
Difficulty
Easy

Ingredients

  • 600g pork shoulder or leg, cut into 3cm cubes
  • For the marinade: 150ml dry white wine
  • For the marinade: 4 cloves garlic, crushed
  • For the marinade: 2 bay leaves
  • For the marinade: 2 tsp paprika
  • For the marinade: 1 tsp salt
  • 800g clams, soaked in salted water for 30 minutes and rinsed
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, sliced
  • 1 tbsp tomato purée
  • 400g potatoes, peeled and cut into 2cm cubes
  • Sunflower oil, for frying
  • Chopped fresh coriander, to serve
  • Lemon wedges, to serve

Method

  1. Mix the pork with the marinade ingredients, cover and marinate in the fridge for at least 4 hours, or overnight.

  2. Fry the potato cubes in 2cm of hot sunflower oil for 8 to 10 minutes until golden and crisp. Drain on kitchen paper and season with salt.

  3. Drain the pork, keeping the marinade, and pat dry. Heat the olive oil in a large pan and fry the pork in batches for 5 minutes until browned.

  4. Add the onion and sliced garlic and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the tomato purée and the reserved marinade, cover and simmer for 20 minutes until the pork is tender.

  5. Discard any open clams that do not close when tapped. Add the clams to the pork, cover and cook for 4 to 5 minutes until they open. Discard any that stay closed.

  6. Fold in the fried potatoes and coriander and serve with lemon wedges.