I recently took advantage of a cloudy moon-covered night to make my way, once again, across the border into Spain. It’s never an easy task under the best conditions and fraught with danger at every step of the way. As I did in my search for my bullfighting friends in Poulet a l’Andalouse,  once again I have had to ask my guides Marcel, on the French side and Luis on the Spanish side to help me safely reach my destination: Al-Andalus where I would meet up with old friend’s for a long awaited dinner but this time at their lovely bleached-white home tucked high in the mountains in El Gastor close to Rhonda. I put my foot down on making the destination by mule, time was precious and I still remembered just how sore I was. Lady luck was with us and we found an old Deux Chevaux in a garage just outside of Malaga. The owner was more than willing to part with it for a price. Luis promised me that he was an experienced driver; no problems he said, he could easily handle the narrow winding mountain roads Direción: Ronda. Somehow, between my screams of sheer panic and the realization of the stupidity of my decision we finally made it up the mountain with one headlight working and the other blinking on and off. I grew a bit older that day. Luis, on the other hand, couldn’t stop from grinning.

Pork Roast Andalusian Style

Ingredients
(serves 4)
Medium sized pork loin
Small can of black olives  
3 – 4 pieces of smoked bacon
New potatoes
1  can tomato paste
1 cup of white Port (some have suggested that using red Port adds to the flavor
1 cup of water
4 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp paprika (or Spanish sweet Paprika)
1 Tsp cayenne pepper
4 cloves of garlic mashed
1 cup of sliced mushrooms (optional)
Salt and pepper
 
Preparation
 
Peel and wash potatoes and cut into small pieces.

Heat olive oil then brown the roast on all sides.

Add salt and pepper then add the paprika, the tomato paste, potatoes, olives and bacon. Use Spanish Paprika which will give it a smoky deep flavor as well as the red pepper which will liven it up. I added mushrooms to the mix but it’s optional.

Add the Port then the water.

Cover the pan and cook for approximately 1h15 on low heat.

Serve the roast surrounded by the vegetables.