Slow cooked pork shank salad with ghost ciabatta

Tam West

This recipe uses Goulter's Organic Raw Apple Cider Vinegar and Kapiti Artisan Ghost Chilli Ciabatta (flavoured with Culley's Hot Sauces). Both products were finalists in the 2016 New Zealand Food Awards in association with Massey University. I was one of the judges. Read more about it and see more of my recipes using finalists' products here.

Don’t be put off by the three-hour cooking time for the pork — the oven does all the work and you can cook it in advance. If cooking in advance, once cooked, leave the pork in the casserole to cool and reheat at 180C for 20 minutes or until the pork is very hot, then proceed with the recipe.

Ingredients

1 ⅔ kgs	Pork shank (Main)
1	Carrot, sliced
1 stick	Celery, sliced
1	Onion, sliced
4 cloves	Garlic, chopped
2	Bay leaves
½ tsp	Fennel seeds
4 Tbsp	Apple cider vinegar, I used Goulter's Organic Raw Apple Cider Vinegar (Main)
150 ml	Water
2 handfuls	Endive, leaves or the leaves from 1 baby cos lettuce (Main)
1	Witloof, leaves detached
250 g	Cherry tomatoes, halved
½ cup	Kalamata olives
2 Tbsp	Capers
1 small handful	Parsley
3 Tbsp	Extra virgin olive oil
2 loaves	Kapiti Artisan Bakehouse Ghost Chilli Ciabatta, heated in a 180C oven for 10 minutes when needed (Main)

Directions

1. Heat the oven to 160C
2. Put the pork, carrot, celery, onion, garlic, bay leaves, fennel seeds, 2 tablespoons of the vinegar and the water into an ovenproof casserole.
3. Cover tightly and place in the oven for 3 hours or until the meat is falling off the bone.
4. Remove from the oven, uncover and cool until cool enough to handle. Lift the shank on to a plate and pull the meat off the bones. Discard the bones, vegetables and cooking liquid.
5. Put the warm pork, endive (or cos) leaves, witlof, tomatoes, olives, capers, parsley, oil and the remaining 2 tablespoons of vinegar into a salad bowl. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and mix well. Serve with hot sliced ciabatta.

More recipes inspired by the NZ Food Awards

• Mamia's Wat chicken and potatoes
• Keewai saltwater crayfish with cider vinegar, cucumber radish and apple dressing