Cooking for Pleasure: Pork Ragu

 That evening, served with pasta and lots of Parmesan cheese, it was great. 

The finished pork ragu. (Photo by Patty Schied)

By Patty Schied

When I was at the grocery store last week, I was craving some red meat and took a look at the beef chuck roasts. About $40 for a four-pound roast! Remember when pot roast was an affordable meal? Then I walked toward the pork section and spotted a four-pound shoulder pork roast for only $12. I took it home then wondered what exactly to do with it.

After reviewing my options, I decided to make an Italian pork stew and serve it with pasta. Both a traditional beef stew and an Italian pork stew are made pretty much the same way except that the Italian one uses tomatoes and leaves out the potatoes. It also has a lot more garlic. The more the better.

This makes quite a bit and can be kept in the refrigerator for a few days before serving to intensify the flavors. I couldn’t wait though. The cooking aroma drove me crazy. That evening, served with pasta and lots of Parmesan cheese, it was great. There was a lot leftover, too.

Ingredients for pork ragu. (Photo by Patty Schied)

Ingredients:

• 1 large pork roast cut into 1 ½ inch cubes

• 1 large onion, minced

• 3 carrots, minced

• 2 stalks of celery, minced

• 8 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

• 1 large can (28 oz) Italian tomatoes, crushed

• 4 tablespoons of tomato paste

• One cup of dry red wine

• 2 cups of chicken stock

• 2 bay leaves

• Fresh thyme

• Fresh rosemary 

• Salt and pepper

• Olive oil

• Fresh grated parmesan cheese

• Finely chopped parsley

Ingredients ready to cook. (Photo by Patty Schied)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Pat dry pork cubes and season heavily with salt and pepper.

In a large heavy-duty cooking pot such as Le Creuset, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil and in three batches, brown the pork cubes on each side. The pork is browned in batches because if you put all of them at once into the pan, they won’t get a nice sear.

All the following steps take time, but the ‘layering of flavors’ is truly worth it. I hope you don’t succumb to the temptation of putting everything in the pot at once.

When all the pork cubes are brown, set them aside. Adding more olive oil if necessary, sauté the chopped onion in the pot until soft. Then add the carrots and celery. Stir and cook for about five more minutes. Then add the chopped garlic, stirring and cooking for another minute. Now add the tomato paste for a couple of minutes then add the chopped tomatoes, wine and chicken stock. Bring to a boil. Put the seared pork cubes back into the pot, then add the rosemary, thyme and bay leaves. Place a lid on the pan, making sure that it is secure, then place the pot in the preheated oven.

Pork ragu in the pot. (Photo by Patty Schied)

Bake for three hours. Check the meat in the pot for tenderness. If cooked through, remove pot from the oven.  Taste for salt and pepper, adding more if necessary.

Prepare the pasta. Traditionally, pappardelle (wide egg noodles) are served with the stew, but if you prefer a different pasta, go ahead and use what you like. 

If you are serving a large group and plan to eat the entire pot of ragu, mix in the cooked pasta. If you are only serving yourself or just one guest, take out the amount you want to serve and place into a separate saucepan. 

Add your cooked pasta, stirring in a spoonful or more of pasta water if it seems too thick. Using pasta water to make the sauce just the right consistency is very typical of Italian cooking.

Serve up on plates, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and some chopped parsley.

• Patty Schied is a longtime Juneau resident who studied at the Cordon Bleu in London and has written a cookbook. Cooking For Pleasure appears every other week in the Juneau Independent's features. She welcomes questions about her column at patschied@yahoo.com.