Portuguese Pork and Clams with Crispy Potatoes and Cilantro
Pork and clams sounds like a mistake until you taste it: sweet shellfish liquor soaking into garlicky, paprika-stained pork, with crisp potato cubes catching all of it. This is Carne de Porco a Alentejana, the Portuguese classic that turns a cheap cut and a bag of clams into something worth opening wine for. It all happens in one pan in about 45 minutes.
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Nutrition (per serving)
Pork and clams sounds like a mistake until you taste it: sweet shellfish liquor soaking into garlicky, paprika-stained pork, with crisp potato cubes catching all of it. This is Carne de Porco a Alentejana, the Portuguese classic that turns a cheap cut and a bag of clams into something worth opening wine for. It all happens in one pan in about 45 minutes.
The traditional marinade is massa de pimentao, a salty red pepper paste that stains the pork deep rust before it ever meets heat. If you cannot find it, sweet paprika whisked with tomato paste and a little olive oil gets you most of the way there. Give the pork at least twenty minutes to sit in it while you cube and fry the potatoes.
Step-by-step instructions
Toss the raw pork cubes with the red pepper paste, chopped garlic, bay leaves and half the white wine until every piece is stained deep rust. Leave it to marinate for at least 20 minutes while you get on with the potatoes.
Fry the potato cubes in a generous slick of olive oil over medium-high heat, turning them only occasionally, until the edges are deep gold and crisp. Lift them out onto kitchen paper and salt them straight away.
Drain the pork from its marinade and pat it dry, then sear it in the same pan in batches over a fierce heat until each side is properly browned. Crowding the pan here steams the meat, so give it room.
Pour in the reserved marinade and the rest of the wine, let it bubble down for two minutes, then tip in the scrubbed clams and clamp on a lid. Cook for four to five minutes, until the shells have opened and released their liquor into the sauce.
Fold the crisp potatoes back through the pan, showering everything with chopped cilantro, and serve straight away with lemon wedges to squeeze over.
Two things make or break this dish. Dry the pork properly before it hits the pan so it sears instead of steams, and pull the clams off the heat the moment they open, because a minute too long turns them to rubber. Any clam that stays stubbornly shut goes in the bin.
Ingredients
- 1 lb (450g) pork shoulder, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 2 tbsp massa de pimentao (Portuguese red pepper paste), or 1 tbsp sweet paprika mixed with 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1 cup dry white wine, ideally Vinho Verde
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 lb (450g) small clams, scrubbed and any open ones discarded
- 1 lb (450g) waxy potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 4 tbsp olive oil, plus more for the pan
- Large handful of fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
- 1 lemon, cut into wedges
- Sea salt and black pepper
Step-by-Step
- 1
Toss the raw pork cubes with the red pepper paste, chopped garlic, bay leaves and half the white wine until every piece is stained deep rust. Leave it to marinate for at least 20 minutes while you get on with the potatoes.
- 2
Fry the potato cubes in a generous slick of olive oil over medium-high heat, turning them only occasionally, until the edges are deep gold and crisp. Lift them out onto kitchen paper and salt them straight away.
- 3
Drain the pork from its marinade and pat it dry, then sear it in the same pan in batches over a fierce heat until each side is properly browned. Crowding the pan here steams the meat, so give it room.
- 4
Pour in the reserved marinade and the rest of the wine, let it bubble down for two minutes, then tip in the scrubbed clams and clamp on a lid. Cook for four to five minutes, until the shells have opened and released their liquor into the sauce.
- 5
Fold the crisp potatoes back through the pan, showering everything with chopped cilantro, and serve straight away with lemon wedges to squeeze over.
Recipe
Portuguese Pork and Clams with Crispy Potatoes and Cilantro
Ingredients
- 1 lb (450g) pork shoulder, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 2 tbsp massa de pimentao (Portuguese red pepper paste), or 1 tbsp sweet paprika mixed with 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1 cup dry white wine, ideally Vinho Verde
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 lb (450g) small clams, scrubbed and any open ones discarded
- 1 lb (450g) waxy potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 4 tbsp olive oil, plus more for the pan
- Large handful of fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
- 1 lemon, cut into wedges
- Sea salt and black pepper
Instructions
- 1
Toss the raw pork cubes with the red pepper paste, chopped garlic, bay leaves and half the white wine until every piece is stained deep rust. Leave it to marinate for at least 20 minutes while you get on with the potatoes.
- 2
Fry the potato cubes in a generous slick of olive oil over medium-high heat, turning them only occasionally, until the edges are deep gold and crisp. Lift them out onto kitchen paper and salt them straight away.
- 3
Drain the pork from its marinade and pat it dry, then sear it in the same pan in batches over a fierce heat until each side is properly browned. Crowding the pan here steams the meat, so give it room.
- 4
Pour in the reserved marinade and the rest of the wine, let it bubble down for two minutes, then tip in the scrubbed clams and clamp on a lid. Cook for four to five minutes, until the shells have opened and released their liquor into the sauce.
- 5
Fold the crisp potatoes back through the pan, showering everything with chopped cilantro, and serve straight away with lemon wedges to squeeze over.
Nutrition Facts
* The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.