This recipe is for Braised Pork for pasta. It may not sound special but it’s a fantastic rich meaty sauce. I don’t recommend serving with store bought pasta, so if you are not in the mood to make your own noodles, serve it over mashed potatoes or creamy polenta.
Braising is a great cooking method for a few reasons. First its perfect for cooking tough aka cheap cuts of meat. Secondly it’s a long and slow cooking process in the oven or a crock pot which means you don’t have to baby sit it. Finally it follows a standard formula that can be slightly altered to reflect pretty much any cuisine.
Essentially, this is a pot roast recipe with a few altercations. When I made this recipe, I intended to serve it over pasta, so I added red wine, chopped tomatoes, leeks & extra garlic. I also optioned not to dredge the pork in flour before searing because I wanted the sauce to be lighter and not cloudy. I used pork but you could easily substitute stew meat, short ribs or even chicken. If you use chicken you should substitute chicken broth or stock too and half or omit the Worcestershire sauce. Remember to adjust the cooking time if not using pork.
Ingredients:
3 lbs Pork Shoulder(butt), trimmed and cut in roughly 4X3X1 in. pieces
1 small onion, diced small
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 leeks, halved washed and sliced 1/4-1/2”
6 small carrots, peeled and cut in random 1” pieces
4 ribs celery, sliced 1/4”
2 bay leaves
1 cup red wine
1 Tbl. Worcestershire Sauce
2 cans beef broth or stock, low sodium
1 can tomato, diced
Salt and Fresh Ground Black Pepper
Instructions:
Preheat oven safe pan (that has a lid or dutch oven) on stove over medium heat with about a tablespoon of cooking oil. When oil is hot and wavy, place seasoned pieces of pork into the hot oil - DO NOT OVERCROWD PAN! If the meat is too close together you will be steaming and the pork will never caramelize and your sauce will be light in flavor and color. Sear all sides of each piece of pork till evenly brown, do this step in batches. Allow seared pork to rest on a plate when complete but let the pan stay on medium heat.
Once pork is seared & resting, add the onions to the hot pan, season w/pinch of kosher salt and 7-10 turns of the pepper grinder and stir once. Let cook about a minute and add the chopped garlic, stir and let cook about another minute then add the chopped leeks, season with a pinch of salt and fresh ground pepper, and stir once then stir occasionally till leeks start to wilt and onions turn clear then add the bay leaf.
When leaks and onions begin to brown, stir in the celery & carrots - season w/pinch of salt and fresh ground pepper. Cook mixture until carrots and celery begin to appear soft, then add the tomato paste & stir to coat. Allow the tomato paste to reduce and almost start to stick to the bottom of the pan. When you notice the tomato paste beginning to brown, deglaze the pan with the red wine. Make sure to stir the bottom of the pan to lift any stuck on bits (aka fond) then add the Worcestershire sauce and beef broth. Bring sauce to simmer and taste, you may need to add more salt and pepper.
Return seared pork to the pan, cover with lid or foil and place in 350° oven for 2.5 to 3 hours or until pork is fork tender. Remove from oven and let rest about 15 min. before serving. If you would like a thicker sauce, remove the pork, and thicken the sauce with a cornstarch slurry.
Serves 4 to 6 generous portions.
