Longleat Slow Cooker Pork and Bacon

After spending a chilly winters day in Longleat Safari Park and Festival of Light, the thought of returning to the cosy van with a slow cooker stew waiting to be dished up was simply divine. No cooking needed to be done as this stew has enough veggies, proteins and carbs in it so it was just a case of fill up a bowl and tuck in.

Ingredients:

750g Stewing pork
4x Rashers smoked back bacon, chopped
150g Baby button mushrooms
1x Onion, diced
1x Red pepper, chopped
1x green pepper, chopped
1x garlic clove, crushed
6x Shallots, peeled
300g Mini carrots, peeled
600g Potatoes, peeled and chopped into equal sizes
1x Parsnip, peeled and chopped
1/2 Celeriac, peeled and chopped
300g Broth mix (pearl barley, lentils, etc)
1tsp Dried mixed herbs
1tsp Caraway seeds
1tsp Smoked paprika
1x Bay leaf
2L Stock, hot
2x Slices of bread


Method:

1. Season the meat with salt and pepper then brown in batches in a frying pan and add to the slow cooker.
2. Add all the remaining ingredients and cover with the hot stock (you might not need it all). Top with the slices of bread and cook on low for 10 hours.
3. Stir well and dish up!

Tip:
Adding slices of bread to the top of a casserole works as a thickening agent. the bread slowly melts into the stew and thickens it. I learned about this tip from the Belgium recipe of Stoofvlees.