Slow-Cooked Pork Shoulder with Swiss Chard & Parmesan

Slice the pork shoulder into 6 portions. Choose a deep-sided pot which will hold the 6 pieces of meat snugly. Season the meat with salt and black pepper. Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in the pot and add the meat in a single layer (you may need to brown the meat in two batches). Sear the meat at a medium heat until golden on all sides and remove from the pot. Drain the excess oil and discard. Add the butter and when heated, throw in the whole cloves of garlic, sage leaves, lemon rind and dried chilli. Cook for a minute or so and then deglaze with the white wine. Return the pork pieces to the pot and bring the wine up to the boil. Turn the heat down to a simmer, cover with a lid and simmer on top of the stove, turning the meat a couple of times during the process. Top up the wine levels if necessary in the earlier part of the cooking. Ater 1 1/2 hours, pour the milk into the pot and bring to the boil. The milk will probably curdle as you add it to the wine. This is perfectly normal so don’t be concerned. After 3 hours of slow cooking, the meat should easily pull away from the bone with a fork and should be meltingly tender and succulent.

For the Swiss chard

Blanch the Swiss chard leaves for 1-2 minutes. Refresh in cold water, drain and pat dry. Chop the leaves roughly, leaving them fairly chunky. Dress the Swiss chard with lemon zest, salt, a squeeze of lemon juice, freshly grated Parmesan and a drizzle of olive oil.

Serve the pork and its sauce along with the Swiss chard.

Crunchy roast potatoes are a great addition.