Comfort food.

Eating paleo is simple in the summer. The long, warm days and evenings lend themselves to salads, cold meats, barbecues and fish, but when we spend the few daylight hours that winter grants us out in the cold, we need something with a bit more oomph. Something that not only sates us, but warms us up and gives us that glow that we used to get from mum's cooking.
Winter means hearty stews, big lumps of meat and plenty of vegetables. Those are what our bodies need, and as we get better at listening to them, the easier it becomes to give our bodies exactly what they require.
Here's a variation on another classic French recipe. Petit sal au lentilles. Is a great stew of salted belly pork and vegetables, perfect for warming you up after a day in the snow.
Of course, being paleo means I no longer eat lentils and, to be brutally honest, no one likes the things anyway, so the stew is actually better this way.

Petit sal sans lentilles.

Ingredients.
1 and 1/2 lbs of belly pork.
5 carrots (diced).
A large onion (diced)
3 sticks of celery (diced)
4 cloves of garlic.
Salt
Pepper
Bouquet garni
A smoked sausage. (A paleo one).

Method.

Slash the skin on the belly pork and salt both sides heavily, rubbing it in well.
Refrigerate over night.
Wash the salt off with water, quickly, so as not to let the meat absorb too much water. Then place in a pot, cover with water, bring to the boil and simmer for an hour.
Skim off any fatty stuff from the surface of the water and drop in the bouquet garni, onion, carrot, celery, garlic and a good pinch of pepper.

Simmer, covered for another hour or so until the meat is tender.
Slice the sausage and add to the pot for the last 20 minutes.
Remove the meat and slice into thick steaks, place 1 or 2 on each plate and serve with a generous helping of the stock.

Serves 4 or 5 very cold and hungry people.

Until next time.

Spence.