Sous Vide Pig Cheek Lasagne | Recipe by sousvidetools.com

Sous Vide Pig Cheek Lasagne

COOK TIME: 12 hours
PREP TIME: 2 Hours
DIFFICULTY: Medium
SERVES: 8

Ingredients

Pig cheek mix

1.5kg pork cheeks, trimmed
1 bunch of sage, small
5g of fennel seeds
1 star anise
1kg sweet white onion, diced
200ml of white wine
50ml of passata
olive oil
salt

Vegetables

1 onion, diced
1 celery stick, diced
2 carrots, diced
olive oil

Pasta

400g of 00 flour
2 free-range eggs, plus enough yolks to make 230g in total
10g of olive oil
14g of flaky sea salt, finely ground

Cheese Sauce

100g of soft cream cheese
50g of grated Parmesan, plus extra for top
100g of double cream
5g of Dijon mustard

Tomato Sauce

500g of cherry tomatoes
50ml of extra virgin olive oil
flaky sea salt

Equipment

EQUIPMENT

Method

Recipe courtesy of Russell Brown from www.greatbritishchefs.com

METHOD

Preheat the water bath to 75°C.
Heat a frying pan on a high heat with a drizzle of olive oil. For the pig cheeks, season and seal in the hot frying pan and colour. Set aside on a tray and leave to cool.
Make a bouquet garni using muslin cloth with the fennel seeds, sage and star anise. Place the bouquet garni and onions into a large saucepan and heat gently with the lid on.
After the onions have sweated down, take the lid off the saucepan and turn the heat up to caramelise the onions. Add in the white wine to deglaze the pan and stir in the passata. Allow the mixture to cool.
Take two vacuum bags and place an even amount of pig cheeks and onions into each. Seal each bag in a vacuum chamber before placing in another vacuum bag and resealing. Place in the water bath to cook for 12 hours.
Make the pasta dough in a food processor by first sifting the flour and salt into the bowl and begin to mix. Meanwhile, beat together the egg mixture and oil and add to the flour.
Stop the mixer and pulse until the texture is like that of breadcrumbs.
Place a small amount of dough between your fingers and squeeze together to check that the texture is correct. If not, scrape a rubber spatula around the edge of the bowl to remove any scraps of egg as just 2–3 grams can make a big difference.
Tip the mixture out onto a work surface and knead to form a dough. Shape the dough into a cylinder a drizzle with a little oil. The dough can now be wrapped in cling film and placed in the fridge for 30 minutes, or preferably longer, to rest.
Place the vegetables into a frying pan and sweat down gently with a little oil until they are soft.
Use a colander to separate the pig cheeks and cooking liquid. The cooking liquid can then be reduced down until it becomes thick.
Roughly pull apart the pig cheeks and place in a large bowl. Add in the cooking liquid, onions and vegetables and combine. Season and leave to one side.
To make the cheese sauce, place all the ingredients into a pan and gently melt over a low heat. Season as required.
Roll the pasta dough until it is thin enough that your fingers are visible through it.
Preheat the oven to 170°C/gas mark 3.
Assemble the lasagne by first lining a 20x30cm baking tin with foil. Lightly oil the foil and lay two pasta sheets on the bottom so they slightly overlap. Spoon half the pig cheek mixture onto the pasta layer and repeat again. Pour the cheese mixture over the top and finish with grated Parmesan.
Bake in the oven for 20–30 minutes, or until the lasagne is bubbling and a golden brown colour on top.
While the lasagne is baking make the tomato sauce by first halving the tomatoes. Heat a dash of olive oil in a heavy-based pan and add in the tomatoes. Season the mixture with salt and leave the tomatoes to soften, giving the mix an occasional stir.
Once softened, remove a couple of tomato halves to garnish the final dish and blitz the rest together using a hand blender. Use a sieve to separate any unwanted pips from the blended tomatoes.
Serve the lasagne in individual portions on each plate. Finish with a little tomato sauce and a garnish of salad leaves.

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Post by Chris Holland

Our Chef Director Chris Holland worked as Head Chef at the prestigious Alderley Edge hotel before joining us. He has a passion for using the best produce and never compromises on quality. Author of our best selling book Sous Vide The Art of Precision Cooking, Chris is a expert on the sous vide technique.During the later part of my school days at Wardle High School Rochdale I always wanted to be a chef . I knew from the very start that my path to work was never going to be academic it was always going to be something practical and hands on.

As a young boy growing up I was inspired to cook with my Grandma who was and still is an inspiration to me . I have memories of helping make the cakes that she always had made for visitors and family alike . She made the most amazing cakes and I loved nothing more than eating the sweet raw cake batter straight from the bowl . We used to fight over who got to lick the bowl/spoon after the cakes were made. My grandma’s philosophy for cooking even on a shoe string budget was always to use fresh and seasonal ingredients either home grown or bought from the market.

School was somewhat of a drag for me as I was itching to learn to become a chef.

I started at Hopwood Hall college as a chef and instantly fell in love with it .To me it was the only real time I excelled in something and this inspired me to really get my head down and put in the hard work. College was the first time I really excelled in something and gave me the opportunity to laugh at the teachers who said I would never make something of my life!!!!

During the three years at college I also took on a part time position in a local hotel working the bar and restaurant first and then the kitchen. These were great days and gave me the opportunity to see how the industry ticks. I learnt a lot from those days both good and bad !! But I have to say I was itching to work only in the kitchen but it was a good insight into the catering world .

After completing college I moved away from Rochdale for a full time roll at one of Cheshire’s most talked about Hotel restaurants The Stanneylands Hotel. This was the school of hard knocks for me as I quickly realised that although excelling at college meant nothing in “The Real World”.

I loved every minute of the 18 hour days 6 days a week on minimum wage . Although difficult I feel that without this grounding I wouldn’t have achieved what I have today. After 18 months of hard graft I left Stanneylands and went with the Head chef to open a fine dining restaurant at Mere Golf and Country Club. The opportunity to work alongside Matthew Barrett was too good to turn down. I learnt so much from the ex-Ritz chef and working in a much slower paced role helped me develop a much better understanding of how to organise and run a kitchen. We were a very small team and teamwork was and still is the only way to go for me.

After 2 years at Mere I got the opportunity to go into The Alderley Edge Hotel as Junior Souschef. The Early days at the Edge were all about learning new styles of cuising which is invaluable in any role as a chef. I got the opportunity to grow and learn all aspects of every section which was inspiring . I was offered the opportunity at the age of 29 (2004) to take the role of head chef. For me this was when I really started to develop my own style of food.

After 9 years at the top winning Cheshire restaurant of the year , Chef of the Year and appearing on GBM amongst many highlights including cooking for many celebrities and famous people I decided to move on into development with Sousvidetools.

The main inspiration for this was to train and educate people . I always had a great passion for education but could never really see myself at a college . The job is super rewarding and I am proud to say we have become the leading light in sous-vide education in the UK . This is something I am very proud of . Food is my biggest passion and this is what keeps me interested the most . I love to travel and try out other countries cuisines. I am constantly inspired by ingredients and the pursuit of getting the best out of them without destroying their natural flavour .It is super important to me to continue to try and be at the forefront of the food scene this is what inspire me and the team to keep driving forward .

Technology is now widely used in the industry and I am super proud to say we have been a big part of spreading that message.

I am very lucky to be in the position I am and the drive to constantly improve our training and links to the next generation of young budding hospitality chefs.

TI feel that my experience over the last 25 years really enables me to get close and educate the “next generation” of chefs .

The industry which I love is really struggling to bring through new recruits and if I can help that process I will be immensely proud.

The food seen in the Uk has improved dramatically over the last ten years and I feel this will continue with the correct education. What happens next only fate will tell us...

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