Slow Food: Pork Ragu

“Tomorrow, I’m going to make a slow cooked ragu.”

When you have a day to spend around home, slow cooking a sauce in the oven is wonderfully relaxing.  You can do nothing while a lovely aroma spreads through the house, and you seem a kitchen hero to your family.  I recently made a pork ragu in this manner.

Lie in front of the fire while your dinner cooks itself!

A “ragu” in Italian Cuisine refers to a meat based sauce.  It can have tomatoes in it, but the meat is the main attraction.  A tomato based sauce can have meat in it, but it isn’t a ragu unless it is mostly meat.  So, the Ragu brand pasta sauce at the supermarket (while I’m sure it is delicious) isn’t technically ragu at all.  

Even more technically, this ragu is a Neopolitan Ragu, in that is uses a whole cut of meat rather than chopped up into pieces.  The whole cut of meat is a boneless pork shoulder.  After 3 hours of braising, it was tender to the point of falling apart.  The perfect main attraction for a ragu.

Browned pork shoulder, waiting for braising liquids.

However, the pork needs a lot of support to make it delicious.  It is flavored with shallots, leeks, tomatoes, red wine and spices.  Most noticeably, there is a hefty dose of Sriracha hot sauce. The flavors that resulted were warm, comfy, and slightly spicy.  

            

I served it over penne with an accompanying salad using my new favorite ingredient, prunes!  Prunes taste lovely in vinaigrette.  They have been tainted by their use as a constipation treatment.  They are so fruity and sweet.  Anything fruity and sweet goes really well with pork!

Sriracha Pork Ragu
(serves 6-ish)

3 lb boneless pork shoulder, trimmed of skin and excess fat
salt and pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
2 shallots, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 big leek, white and light green parts, chopped
2 14.5 cans chopped tomatoes and their juice
1 cup red wine (I used pinot noir)
2-3 tablespoons sriracha hot sauce, depending on how spicy you like things
5 thyme sprigs
2 teaspoons dried oregano
about a teaspoon fennel seeds

dried pasta
Grated parmesan cheese, to serve

Pat the surface of the meat dry and generously salt and pepper it. Preheat oven to 325 F.  Set a Dutch Oven over medium high heat.  Heat olive oil and butter until butter melts.

Add meat to pan and brown on all sides.  You may have to turn it to awkward angles to get the whole thing browned, but get it all; you don’t want any raw meat to contact your veggies.

Add garlic, leeks and shallots to the pan.  Toss them around to coat in oil and saute until softened, only a few minutes.

Add tomatoes, wine, hot sauce, thyme, oregano and fennel. Liquid should reach about ⅓ the way up the side of the meat.  Add wine or tomato juice if necessary.

Cover with a tight fitting lid and slide the whole thing into the oven.  Cook for 3-4 hours, turning the meat over once an hour.  I knew mine was done when I attempted to turn it over and meat slid right off.

Remove the meat and shred with two forks.  Return to pot and stir everything up.  Taste and add salt, pepper or hot sauce to your liking. Cover to keep warm.

Boil water and cook your pasta.  Serve sauce over pasta and top with parmesan cheese.

Source:  Braised Pork Ragu with Pappardelle, from Dinner: a love story

A Taste of Summer: Roasted Tomatoes

“Tomorrow, I’m going improve the flavor of these winter tomatoes.”

I love tomatoes.  I generally eat seasonally, but I love tomatoes all year round, even when they aren’t in season.  Someday, I want to be the type of person who buys tons of tomatoes from the farmers market in the summer, processes and cans them, and has local tomatoes to use all year round.

I wrote that, and then realized that I am the type of person who would do that, I just haven’t gotten around to including it in my summer routine yet.

For now, my winter tomato consumption consists of store bought canned tomatoes and fresh tomatoes from Mexico.  But something about their journey from the tropics seems to diminish their flavor, making fresh tomatoes in winter a mere shadow of their summer selves. My boyfriend calls them “water-berries.”

Water berries, about to be magically transformed.

A decent solution to this problem is to roast them.  It concentrates the tomato flavor just enough, leaving you with yummy cooked tomatoes ready to use in recipes. I like the roasted tomatoes better than canned because they lack the metallic aftertaste of canned tomatoes.  Am I the only person who notices that? It cooks away after a bit in soups and sauces, but I’m fairly certain it isn’t a figment of my imagination.

This recipe is really a building block for other meals.  I combined these tomatoes with olives and capers and served them on pan fried chicken.  Additionally, they would be great on toasted bread, on sandwiches, or mixed with pasta or vegetables. Use them anywhere you would use raw tomatoes in summertime. Enjoy!

Roasted Tomatoes

1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
4 cloves of garlic, unpeeled
olive oil
salt

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Toss tomatoes and garlic with enough olive oil so that they shine, and a big pinch of salt.  Spread out mixture on baking sheet or shallow baking dish.
Bake for 30-45 minutes, or until tomatoes are very soft. Cool slightly and remove garlic from peels.
Use immediately or store in the fridge in a jar, covered with additional olive oil.

Recipe Source: Directly inspired by “Slow Roasted Tomatoes” from Around my French Table by Dorie Greenspan