The Williams-Sanoma catalog came in the mail. My wife and I always enjoy looking at their recipes. The problem with most of their recipes, it calls for stuff you don’t usually find lying around your house or lying around your local grocery store. This months recipe,
Pork Ragu was no exception. It called for 3 bulbs of fennel, 1 ¾ pounds cremini mushrooms, 3 tblspns mushroom demi-glace, and ¾ pound pappardelle cooked al dente. This was besides the other ingredients, one of which is pancetta. I knew I could get pancetta at our local grocer because I had seen it before. Pancetta is an Italian bacon.
Anyway, this recipe sounded pretty good so I decided to give her a try. After going to several stores unsuccessfully trying to find these obscure items, here’s the recipe I made up with the help of the Williams-Sonoma, my Grand Diplome Cooking Course books, and looking at various internet recipes.
Pork Ragu in the Crock Pot
3 lb pork shoulder roast
flour
olive oil
3 oz pancetta
1 white onion
3 carrots
1 stalk celery
1 tblspn minced garlic
1 ½ lb mushrooms
2 cups fresh tomatoes
1 tblspn fennel seeds
1 small can tomato paste 6 oz
1 cup pinot noir wine
1 can (10 ½ oz) chicken broth
Fettucine
Go here to compare with Williams-Sonoma along with my explanation below.
http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/pork-ragu.html
I had a pork shoulder roast in the freezer. Normally, I would have put it in the crock pot, put in a couple cap fulls of liquid smoke and let it cook all day till it fell off the bone. Fish out the bone, pour in a bottle of barbeque sauce, stir, and viola, BBQ pulled pork.
The W-S recipe called for 3 ¾ pounds, quartered, then browned in oil after being “dredged” with flour. Of course, making sure you shook off the excess flour. I cut out the bone, then cut the rest into strips like you would for a stroganoff. Always cut against the grain to ensure tenderness after cooking. I threw it all in a bag, and poured in about a cup of flour. Here’s what you do. Shake it all up making sure it’s all covered in flour. Then brown the pork in some olive oil. Move it to the crock pot which you haven’t turned on yet.
In the same pan you browned the meat, add some more olive oil. Then sauté the pancetta, garlic, onion, carrot, and celery (all diced.) I used a white onion, cause it was already there. W-S called for yellow. A friend always told me, yellow is for cooking. Red and white are for eating raw, ie salads, hamburgers, sandwiches, etc. So throw all that stuff in with the pork. Crock pot on high.
I really don’t think I could be a real chef because my neck and feet wouldn’t take it. After dicing and slicing, my neck hurt like the dickens and after this was all over, my back and feet were killing me.
Ok, at this point I had to go to the store for more ingredients, or I may have gone ahead and combined these final items all at once with the other veggies.
Now, I’m really not sure what a cremini mushroom is but the picture looks a little smaller and somewhat brown compared to what I bought. I went over to the produce aisle and grabbed a pound and a half of those full white mushrooms. I think they were champignon mushrooms but besides portabello, that’s all they had. Who knows, they may have been cremini.
Our stores used to carry a packet of demi-glace mix. We always had some in the cabinet, but about six months ago, they quit carrying it. Go figure.
I couldn’t find any jars, cans, or dry packets of demi-glace so I skipped it. That may have taken away from some of the flavor. I know if I cooked great gourmet meals at home a lot, I would have some Espagnole and demi-glace sauce readily available in the freezer. But….
So, let’s talk fennel. Until today, I don’t think I ever gave fennel a second look even if my store had it. They didn’t. I went to three stores, no luck. I’m not sure if it’s out of season or what but I know Wal-Mart doesn’t carry it cause the produce manager was out there in the aisle and I had a pleasant conversation with him. He asked what I was cooking. I explained it and said, well, I guess I’ll get some fennel seeds in the spice aisle and throw in a tablespoon. He suggested that I fry them or soak them to make them tender before putting in the recipe. I thought, well, I’m putting them in the crock pot, so….
When I got back home, I sliced the mushrooms and chopped the tomato. Luckily, tomatoes are ripening in California gardens right now, so I have plenty. I didn’t plant any this year, but my friends did. Anyway, I put a little oil in a pan and turned to a medium high heat. I threw in the tablespoon of fennel seeds and grilled them up.
Take the opportunity to pop a fennel seed in your mouth. It has a licorice flavor to it. Mmm. Apparently, it’s used to make absinthe liquor, and is sometimes used as an after dinner mouth cleanser. I wish I could have found the bulbs, I would like to try them.
Then I threw in the mushrooms and turned down the heat, sautéing them until they looked like they came out of a can. I threw in the tomatoes and let them cook a few minutes. Then, I added a can of tomato paste and the can of chicken broth. I stirred it all up and let it cook a couple minutes until the paste had all dissolved. Then I poured in the wine.
I transferred all the mushroom, tomato, fennel seed, wine stuff to the crock pot with everything else. I turned it on high and let it cook. W-S says to cook on high for five hours. After three, I turned mine down to low. This is a full crock and this stuff was bubblin’. It cooked another three hours and then it was dinner time.
I’m not sure if I’ve ever even seen pappardelle pasta, but the picture looks like lasagna noodles without the edge. I would have tried it, had I found some, but instead, I opted for fettucine. Cooked as directed on the box and drained. I don’t rinse because I like my pasta a little sticky, but there’s nothing wrong with rinsing it before serving.
So fettucine in a pasta bowl, then cover with the pork ragu. Some bread and butter next to me at the table. Grab a forkful and give it a taste. Hey, this stuff ain’t bad. As a matter of fact, it’s pretty darn good. Pass the parmesan.
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