Pork & Porcini Ragu
Serves 8
Deeply flavorful while retaining a certain lightness, this sauce clings lightly to pasta and makes a very elegant dinner.
This recipe makes quite a lot, but the ragu freezes beautifully. I invented this recipe, and just played the seasoning by ear — hence, no measurements. I will say that the herbs and spices are listed in order of descending quantity. You only want a pinch of cloves.
Ingredients #
- 5 lb bone-in pork shoulder, cut into 2" chunks
- 1 oz dried porcini mushrooms
- 1/2 diced pancetta
- 2 large yellow onions
- 3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
- 2 stalks celery, sliced
- 3 cloves of garlic
- Rubbed sage
- Marjoram
- Thyme
- Oregano
- Ground coriander
- Ground cloves
- Crushed red pepper
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1 cup dry white vermouth
- Orecchiette
- 2-3 tbsp finely minced parsley
Instructions #
Place dried porcini in a bowl full of hot water and let soak for 20 min. Remove, chop coarsely and set aside. Strain the soaking liquid and reserve.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Season pork roast thoroughly with salt and black pepper. Dust liberally with flour.
In a large Dutch oven over medium heat, cook the pancetta to render out the fat. When the Pancetta is crisp, remove with a slotted spoon and reserve.
Increase heat to medium-high and brown the pork thoroughly in batches in the pancetta fat. Remove the pork from the pot as completed, set aside.
When all the pork is browned, pour all but 1 tbsp of fat from the pot. Return to medium heat and add the onions, carrots and celery. Cook, stirring and scraping the bottom with a wooden spoon, until the vegetables are softened and beginning to brown.
Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the herbs and spices and the tomato paste. Cook, stirring constantly, until the tomato paste darkens a bit. Add the reserved pancetta. Add the Vermouth and chicken stock, bring to a simmer. Cover and place in the middle of the preheated oven.
Braise until the pork is extremely soft – it should break into shreds when you stir it.
Using tongs, remove the pork to a bowl. Skim as much fat as possible from the braising liquid. If there’s too much of it, simmer to reduce down to no more than 2 cups. Return the shredded pork to the liquid and stir to combine. Set aside all of the ragu that you want to save, leaving only what you’re going to eat.
Cook orecchiette until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta water. Stir the pasta water into the sauce, and toss the sauce and pasta together with the minced parsley.