Pork:

• 2 kg boneless pork scotch roast, cut into 5cm pieces
• ½ cup plain flour, for dusting
• 1 Tbsp sweet paprika
• 4 Tbsp  olive oil
• Sea salt

Braise:

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 brown onion, thinly sliced
• 2 carrots, peeled and finely diced
• 3 celery stalks, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 500g Swiss brown mushrooms, thickly sliced
• 1 Tbsp fennel seeds
• 4 large sprigs thyme, picked
• 4 sprigs rosemary, whole
• 1 ½  cups chicken stock + 1 ½ cups water
• 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

Dumplings:

• 400g self-raising flour, plus extra
• 2 Tbsp fennel seeds, roughly crushed 
• 400g greek yogurt
• 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 Tbsp butter, melted

To Serve

• Salad greens

TO PREPARE:

Preheat oven to 160°C

1. Place flour and paprika in a large bowl and season well. Add pork to the bowl and toss well to coat in flour. 
2. Heat the oil in a large, flameproof casserole dish over high heat. Cook pork, in batches, for 5 minutes or until browned, adding more oil if needed. Transfer to a plate.
3. Drizzle a little more oil and add onion, celery, garlic, mushroom, rosemary and thyme. Cook, stirring, for 8 to 10 minutes or until mushrooms are browned.
4. Add the stock and water, then bring to the boil. Return pork to dish, stir through the liquid and vegetables. Cover with a lid or foil and transfer to oven and cook for 1 hour 20 minutes or until pork is tender.
5. Meanwhile, make the dumplings, handle the dough gently or the dumplings will be heavy.
6.  In a mixing bowl, combine the flour and ground fennel seeds with salt and pepper. In a separate small bowl stir together the yoghurt and mustard, then mix gently into the flour with a fork. 
7. With floured hands, roll the mixture into 2 logs of approx 3 cm diameter. Slice each log into 8 – 10 equal pieces (approx 2 cm thick). 
8. Increase oven heat to 190°C with top down heat. Dot the dumplings slices on top of the casserole, (don’t worry if it doesn’t cover the dish entirely, the dough will rise and spread). Re-cover dish with foil and steam dumplings for 15 – 20 minutes until the dumplings have puffed, then uncover casserole dish, brush dumplings with melted butter and return to oven to bake for a further 5  –  10 minutes or until dumplings are golden.
9. Serve with a crisp green salad.

Cooks Notes

• Make-ahead the pork, then re-heat to piping hot before finishing recipe from step 5.
• Freeze half of the slow cooked meat for a delicious meal another time.

Credit:

Recipe and styling Kate Flower @kateflowerfood