Pork With Almond Sauce (Cabezada con Salsa de Almendras)

In the past week, we’ve settled quite well into what I would consider a comfortable routine with Paleo. We’re particularly having a lot of fun experimenting with new flavors and sauces, that while possibly skirt the line of what Paleo advocates a wee bit, also keep meals we make with similar ingredients new and exciting. I feel like we’re finally taking the time to school ourselves on spices and herbs.

This traditional Spanish recipe originally calls for an entire loaf of French baguette and a full two cups of wine. I omitted the bread and cut the wine in half. I was initially worried how it would affect the final outcome, but Neil was insistent that it would still work. He was right, much to our enjoyment and hopefully yours, this recipe is definitely a keeper.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
5 to 6 cloves garlic
2 bay leaves
1 yellow onion, diced
1 large tomato
1/3 pound blanched whole almonds
Salt
Water, if needed
2 pounds pork shoulder or steak, cut into cubes
1 cup white wine
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
2 teaspoons paprika
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Place almonds in a frying pan with olive oil. Fry for some time until the almonds are nice and brown. Add the peeled garlic and fry for an additional minute or two.
2. Remove almonds and garlic from the pan and set aside on a plate, leaving oil in the pan.
3. Cut the pork into large cubes, salt and pepper it and fry from all sides so the meat gets a nice color.
4. Add the tomato, the peeled and quartered onion, bay leaves, paprika, white pepper and the wine. Cover and let it all cook on low heat for 30 minutes.
5. Take the onion and the tomato out of the pan and place in a food processor. Add the almonds and the garlic and add some of the cooking liquid from the pan (around 1/2 cup). Puree the ingredients until you have a really fine sauce. Return the sauce to the pan with the pork and let it simmer uncovered for an additional 30 minutes. Season with additional salt and pepper if desired.

The nights are getting cooler, but with comfort food like this, it’s a little easier to enjoy. The sauce has a warm nutty flavor with a hint of spice and while it is smooth, it still has bits of smokey almond intact. It would be wonderful over steamed or brown rice, roasted potatoes or with some toasted baguette to dip and spread over. We steamed fresh asparagus with garlic and sea salt with to serve with ours.