Pork Ragout

This dish requires your patience, but you will be very well rewarded.  This is big flavor, simple ingredients, and all-around comfort food.

This dish isn't complicated, but it requires about two hours for the pork to cook and become tender.  Basically, you brown the pork and cook some onions and garlic.  Then, you add some white wine to deglaze the pot.  You could add red wine, but I think white wine keeps it a little lighter.  After, you add some tomatoes, herbs, and chicken broth, and you let the pork cook in an sauce of amazingness.  The pasta doesn't get cooked completely in the water because it will finish cooking when you add it to the sauce. At the end, you add some parm, some olive oil, and some arugula.  Finally, bon appetit!

You could make it in the slow cooker, but if you do, make sure you brown the pork before adding it into the slow cooker.

Instead of using forks to shred meat, use your stand mixer.  Yes, you read that right!  Add warm meat (with any bones removed) to the bowl of your stand mixer.  Put on the paddle attachment, and turn on your stand mixer to medium-low speed.  In about three minutes, you'll have perfectly shredded meat. It's much faster and easier than using the two fork method.

Next time you are looking for a hearty, insanely good, and tasty pasta dish for dinner--and have some time, give this one a try.

Pork Ragout
Yields 10 servings

Ingredients:
3 pound pork shoulder roast, cut into 3-inch chunks
1 1/2 tbsp. Kosher salt
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
3 tbsp. cooking oil (vegetable oil or grapeseed oil)
8 sprigs thyme
2 sprigs rosemary
1 bay leaf
2 medium onions, thinly sliced
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup white wine
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
Pinch red chili flakes
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
1 lb. rigatoni or penne pasta
1 Parmesan cheese rind
6 tbsp. freshly grated Parmesan, plus more as a desired
Arugula, if desired

Directions:
Use paper towels to dry the pork well and sprinkle on all sides with 1 tbsp. of the kosher salt and the pepper.  Heat 2 tbsp. of the cooking oil in a Dutch oven over high heat.  Working in batches, brown the pork on all sides, about 3-5 minutes per side.  Remove the pork to a plate and set aside.

Once the pork has been browned, reduce the heat to medium.  Add the remaining 1 tbsp. cooking oil.  Then, add the onions and the remaining Kosher salt.  Cook for about 8-10 minutes, stirring and scraping any brown bits.  Then, add the garlic and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes.  Deglaze with the white wine and cook until nearly dry, 8 to 10 minutes.

Then, add the chicken broth, crushed tomatoes, Parmesan rind, chili flakes, and herbs and bring to a simmer.  Return the pork to the pot and tuck it under the sauce.  Reduce the heat to low and simmer, covered, for about 2 hours until the pork is fork tender.

Remove the pork and shred it.  Remove the herbs from the sauce and add the pork back to the pot.  Stir in the olive oil and half of the grated Parmesan.  Keep warm over low heat.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta for about 1 or 2 minutes less than the package instructions.  Drain and add the pasta to the sauce, tossing to cook.  Finish cooking the pasta in the sauce and add a ladle of pasta water as needed.

Serve with the remaining Parmesan and a drizzle of olive oil, and garnish with baby arugula.

Source: The Giadzy