This was inspired by a delicious tapa of presa al palo cortado that I had at the fabulous Bodeguita Romero a few days before NYE. I decided then and there that I wanted to try and make it myself, even though I’d only ever cooked presa “a la plancha” before. Presa is an upper shoulder cut (see diagram below, pluma is a lower cut and a bit fattier, both are delicious) and the piece I found for this meal was 600 grams.

What I didn’t expect was that it would shrink so much but, to be honest, I think I overcooked it a bit (full disclosure: fell asleep watching netflix while it was on low heat). Later I discovered that some of the “shrinkage” was due to a fair bit of meat shredding off and ending up in the sauce, which was QUITE reduced by the time I woke up again. But hey, no problem. I removed the presa and slowly added more broth and sherry, whisking madly until I got a nicely textured sauce again. In fact, this might be what I do in future, because then you end up with MEAT SAUCE, which frankly was totally yum. But I digress.

Many thanks to my friends, the family at @bodeguitaromero and chef @jose_pizarro who helped out with cooking tips while I was making this. With sides, serves four.

Ingredients and instructions below…

• 500-600 gram presa Ibérica de Bellota
• 4-5 medium sweet onions, finely chopped
• olive oil
• 500 grams portobello mushrooms, sliced
• 6 cloves garlic, sliced
• 350 ml broth
• 350 ml palo cortado sherry
  (can substitute oloroso)
• 6-8 whole black peppercorns
• a few sprigs fresh thyme
• salt & pepper

Rinse and then totally pat dry the presa. Season with salt and black pepper and let sit for about half an hour. Then sear the meat on both sides in a hottish pan (with olive oil) and set aside. In the same pan add a bit more olive oil and sautée the onions until they are nicely soft and translucent. Transfer the onions to a stainless steel pot, place the presa on top of the onions. Then sautée the portobellos and garlic in the same pan that you seared the meat and sautéed the onions… when the mushrooms are nicely browned add a cup of broth (I used chicken) and stir until it bubbles. Next add the palo cortado. Once that’s nicely bubbling, pour it all over the presa, and add the black peppercorns and fresh thyme.

Then turn the heat down LOW… lid on (I use a flat lid that has vents in it; if you don’t have one keep the lid slightly ajar so you end up stewing, rather than steaming, the meat). Then let it cook away, checking it and turning the presa every half hour. It should be perfectly done somewhere between 2-3 hours, but this is also a personal call. I like it to be quite tender, almost falling apart like a pulled pork (but not quite).

I served this on NYE with roasted potatoes, roasted courgette and spring onion splashed with soy sauce, and hot yorkshire puddings.