From Our Kitchen to Yours: Pork Ragu with Tagliatelle

INGREDIENTS

Pork Ragu

• 1 ½ -2 lbs. pork picnic shoulder
• 1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 shallot, minced
• 6 crimini mushrooms
• 1 large carrot
• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 cup dry red wine
• 1 can san marzano peeled tomatoes
• 2 sprigs rosemary
• 1 sprig fresh oregano
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 Tbsp. fennel seeds
• kosher salt
• 2 oz. parmesan, finely grated
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tsp. vegetable oil

Tagliatelle Pasta

• 1 ½ cups (200 grams) 00 flour
• ¼ cup all-purpose flour for dusting
• 1 large whole egg
• 5 large egg yolks
• 1 ½ tsp. olive oil
• 1 tsp. kosher salt

Chef’s Tip:

While carrots may seem unusual in a pasta sauce, the sweetness from the carrot means you don't have to add refined sugar to your sauce!

RECIPE PREPARATION

Pork Ragu

Prep the Vegetables and Herbs:

1. Dice the onion and mushrooms, mince the garlic and shallots, and chop the carrot, keeping all of the ingredients separated. 
2. Using a dry skillet over high heat, toast the fennel seeds until lightly browned and fragrant. Remove from heat and using a mortar and pestle, grind them into a powder.  
3. Empty the can of San Marzano tomatoes into a large bowl, crush them by hand, and drain any excess liquid. 
4. Prepare an herb sachet by wrapping your leafy herbs in a cheesecloth and tying it with kitchen twine. For this recipe, we used fresh rosemary, oregano and bay leaf, but you can use marjoram or any medley you prefer.

Chef’s Tip:

If you’re feeling ambitious, I highly suggest roasting the bone and pairing with root vegetables to make a stock (either in a pressure cooker or slow cooker) and using it as a substitute for the chicken stock in this recipe or any other

Prep the Meat:

1. Remove the pork from the refrigerator for about an hour before preparation. 
2. If the pork shoulder has the bone still in, carefully cut around the bone and remove from the roast and set aside. 
3. Cut the boneless pork shoulder into ½” cubes and season generously with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.  
4. In a large skillet or dutch oven, heat 1 Tbsp. of unsalted butter and about 1 Tbsp. of vegetable oil (or other flavor neutral oil) until smoking.  
5. Working in batches, sear the pork on all sides, about 3-5 minutes. 

After browning the pork, remove from the skillet using a slotted spoon or tongs and set aside on a plate lined with paper towels, to allow the oil to be absorbed.  

Once all of the pork has been seared, deglaze the pot with a cup of stock, scraping the bottom of the pot with and a wooden spatula to loosen any caramelized pieces that may have stuck to the pot.  

Add the onions to the deglazed pot, and saute until translucent (about 5-10 minutes), then add the carrots, garlic and mushrooms and saute for an additional 10 minutes over medium heat, adding a touch of olive oil if necessary.  

Add red wine to the vegetable mixture and bring to a low boil, stirring constantly to deglaze the pot a second time. 

Add the rest of the stock, the sachet of herbs, ground fennel, crushed tomatoes, and the pork. 

Cover the dutch oven and cook for about 2 hours on low heat, checking and stirring occasionally, and adding kosher salt to taste. After about 2 hours, the pork should shred with a little encouragement and the carrot thoroughly softened and dissolved into the sauce.  

While the sauce is simmering, begin to make the tagliatelle!

Tagliatelle

If you’re not feeling particularly ambitious, you can use store bought tagliatelle (or your favorite pasta of any kind), but if you’ve got the time, freshly made pasta is the best to go with homemade Ragu.

Prep your work surface (either a countertop or large cutting board) by dusting it with flour (I like to use all-purpose (AP) flour for this rather than the more expensive 00 flour).  

Measure out the 00 flour in a mound on your work surface.  

• Add the salt to the flour.  
• Using a large wooden spoon or your fist, make a well in the flour big enough to accommodate all of the eggs.  

In a bowl, crack 5 eggs (this is just my preferred method), scoop the yolks out with your hands, and rest them in the flour crater.

• Crack one additional whole egg into the crater.  
• Add the olive oil to the eggs. 

Using a circular motion, beat the eggs and yolks with a fork, slowly mixing in the flour bit by bit in wider and wider circles.  Keep working your way outward, using your other hand to introduce flour to the mixture to form a dough. Once you begin to approach the outer rim of the flour, the dough should be sticky and fairly wet.  

Once you can no longer whisk the dough with a fork, use a bench scraper, to fold and knead the dough, continuing to introduce the flour.  

When the dough forms into a solid ball, knead and press it for about 15 minutes, using the heel of your palm to push through the ball to your work surface, then folding and repeating.  

Once you have a consistent and dry ball that rebounds elastically when dimpled you are done kneading.  

Using a bench knife, cut the dough into four equal parts and roll into a cylinder about the size of your pasta sheeter (about 5”). 

• Dust the dough and work surface with more AP flour.  
• Pass the dough through your pasta sheeter, usually twice on the thickest setting to get the ball rolling, so to speak.  
• Continue to pass the dough through the sheeter at every setting until you get to the thinnest setting, making sure to lightly dust with flour to avoid sticking. The final dough should be almost translucent and paper thin. 

Repeat with all 4 dough balls.

Lay out the pasta sheet on your floured work surface, dust with more AP flour and cut into 10” segments. Carefully stack the segments on each other and roll it into a roll about 3” wide.

Using a chef’s knife, cut the roll into ½” wide strips.  Separate the strips into noodles, lightly dust with AP flour, then allow the pasta 10-15 minutes to dry before separating them into each serving (this is optional if you’re just making a large batch of pasta).  The fresh pasta should be used within a couple days or frozen.

Assembly

Depending on how quick you are at making the Tagliatelle, the Ragu may be about done by the time you’ve finished making the noodles. If not, put a big pot of water on to boil with a lot of Kosher salt, have a glass of wine and wait for your sauce to finish. 

When I say a lot of Kosher salt, I mean A LOT, and KOSHER salt. If you don’t have kosher salt, you may want to be more conservative, but your pasta water should be as briny as the ocean (taste it before cooking pasta in it!) and you should NEVER put oil in the water. So throw about a fist full of kosher salt in fresh cold water and set it to boil.

When your sauce is done, the pork should be shredding easily and the vegetables should be all but dissolved in the milieu of the meaty deliciousness. Once this is happening, remove the sachet of herbs. Taste the sauce, then add salt and black or red pepper, to your satisfaction. Transfer your desired amount of ragu to a skillet on low temperature and allow it to saute while you finish the pasta. If it seems too thick, add a little water and allow it to saute off.

Once your ocean salty water is at a rolling boil, drop in the tagliatelle for about 40 seconds.  Remove the noodles from the water and drain (do not rinse).

Immediately transfer the noodles to the skillet with the ragu sauce and saute together, adding any final seasoning if you like (red pepper, dried oregano, etc), then transfer to a plate or serving dish. 

Grate fresh parmesan cheese over the dish and serve!