Braised Pork and Macaroni

There's nothing about the pig that I don't like.  If you enjoy a standard bolognese sauce, try this.  It's not a quickie dish, but well worth the time.  While braising the meat, make the base of the sauce on the stove top. 
Serve it atop fresh macaroni with a few slices of shaved Pecorino Romano cheese, and it will never disappoint. 

This yields about enough to serve 6-8 people with some leftovers.  If you're Italian, it might serve less.

4-5 lbs boneless pork shoulder/butt
12 ounces tomato paste
10-12 garlic cloves (less if you like)
2 large yellow onions
46 ounces crushed tomatoes
1 cup basil (approx), more for garnish
Pinch red pepper flake
Salt and black pepper
Olive oil
Water

Equipment: Large dutch oven or oven-safe braising pot with lid

Meat Braising Time: 3-4 hours (depening on whether you double or halve the recipe)

Braising the Meat:

1. If your pork has a thick "fat cap", trim off about 1/4 inch.  Don't make yourself crazy, only trim if it's an inch to start.  Then, cut your pork into 2 inch cubes. Season liberally with salt (and black pepper if you like).  With the side of your chef's knife, smash 5-6 cloves of garlic, remove peel and add to pork.  Set aside for 20 minutes, up to a few hours (place in fridge if sitting longer then 20 minutes).

2. When you're ready to go, add tomato paste to dutch oven and whisk in water until there are no more clumps. 

3. Quarter one of the onions and add to the pot along with the pork and smashed garlic cloves.  Add enough water to cover meat. 

4. Cover pot and braise in the oven for 3-4 hours, checking the meat after 2 hours.  You'll know it's ready when you can easily pull the meat apart with two forks.

Tomato Sauce:

1. Chop the remaining garlic and onion.  Heat a large pot to medium high and add enough olive oil to coat the bottom.  

2. Saute garlic and onions until fragrant and add crushed tomatoes. Tear basil leaves and add to sauce.  Simmer for 1-2 hours, stirring occasionally.  Be careful not to burn the sauce!

3. Wait to season with salt until after adding your pork.

Marrying the two:

1. When the pork is ready, remove from pot and allow to cool slightly.  Disgard the onions, add remaing garlic to simmering sauce.  Reserve cooking liquid.

2. When cool enough to handle, taste it.  Season with salt if necessary then pull pork apart and add to stove top sauce.  If there are large pieces of fat that did not render, remove and discard.

3. Allow the pork and sauce to simmer together for another 30 minutes to an hour on low heat.        

4. Place dutch oven onto stove top and reduce the remaining cooking liquid until it thickens.  You will have alot of cooking liquid, so if you want to save time, you can just cook down half of the remaining liquid and reserve the rest for another time.  This braising liquid is insanely flavorful.  Don't discard it!

5. Add thickened/syrupy reduction to sauce and mix to combine with all ingredients.  
  
6. Taste it.  At this point add any additional salt, black pepper and red pepper flake.

7. You're ready to serve over macaroni with a little grated cheese...nice.

Enjoy!
MJM

Mama Meatballs and Sauce

Back on track.  Happy cooking.

½ lb each ground veal, pork and beef (85% fat)

3-4 cloves garlic, minced

2 slices sandwich bread

¾ cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese

2 large eggs

½ cup (approx) milk

Olive oil

15-20 ounces crushed tomatoes, preferably San Marzano

Handful of fresh basil leaves, whole

¼ (approx) of red wine- don’t overthink this

Salt, crushed red pepper flake

Preheat oven to 350

1.    In a large baking dish, add crushed tomatoes, wine and basil.  Set aside.

2.    Add all meat in a large bowl and break up to combine

3.    Add garlic, cheese, red pepper (optional) and with your hands, evenly mix into meat.

4.    Place slices of bread in a small, separate bowl and pour milk over until liquid is fully absorbed.  Break up bread into pea size pieces and add to meat.  Gently fold bread into meat.

5.    Lightly beat eggs and add to mixture, again, gently incorporating the liquid into the meat.  Do not over work your meat once you add the wet ingredients!

6.    Heat a large skillet on high and coat with olive oil.

7.    Always test your mixture before forming and cooking all the meatballs.  Place a tablespoon size of your meat into the pan and cook through.  Taste your food.  Add more garlic, cheese or salt if needed.  I don’t add salt in the beginning because of the saltiness of the cheese.  You can always add it at this point if you want.  

8.    Begin forming your meatballs and be gentle.  Do not compress the meat with your hands; carefully form the meat into the size somewhere between a golf ball and baseball.

9.    Add 8-10 meatballs at a time to the skillet and brown on all sides.  Continue in batches until meatballs are all browned, adding them to the sauced baking dish.  Finish cooking the meatballs in a 350 oven for about 20 minutes, checking after 15 minutes.

10.       Serve along side macaroni, on a hero with some fresh mozzarella or straight up.  Don't forget the sauce!

Variations: 

Add ground turkey instead of beef, which I actually prefer so long as you use dark meat ground turkey.  You need a bit of fat in these guys to make it nice.

Skip the skillet and place meatballs straight into the oven, cooking time will obviously be longer.

Enjoy!
MJM

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MIMI'S MACARONI DOUGH

We say macaroni in my family, but it's just the same as pasta dough.  Enjoy!


2 cups flour*
2 large eggs
1/4 tsp salt
3 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
2-3 Tbs cold water


Yields approximately 1 lb dough Equipment: stand mixer fitted with dough hook, food processor fitted with dough blade or your pretty little hands AND pasta rolling machine or handy rolling pin for the adventurous...more instruction on that in another post)

Stand Mixer and Food Processor Instructions:
1. In a small bowl, mix together eggs and olive oil; set aside
2. To mixing bowl, add flour, salt and egg mixture.  Mix on medium speed until dough comes together.  If dough appears too dry, add one tbs of water until rough ball forms.
3. Turn out onto lightly floured board or clean countertop and knead for 2-3 minutes.  Dough should appear smooth and stretchy.  Let rest for 30 minutes.


By Hand Instructions:
1. In a small bowl, mix together eggs and olive oil; set aside
2. Whisk salt and flour together and form a into a mound on a clean counter or in a large mixing bowl.  Form a well in the center of the flour and carefully pour the egg mixture into the center.
3. Using a fork, mix the eggs while incorporating flour from the outer sides of the well.  Try to keep the egg mixture from spilling outside.  Continue mixing in the flour to the egg mixture until dough begins to form. 
4. Once dough begins to form, stop using fork and with lightly floured hands, incorporate the rest of the flour. 
5. Add water if the dough appears too dry, one tbs at a time.  When dough is stretchy and smooth, let rest for 30 minutes


Rolling and shaping pasta:


1. After dough has rested, divide dough into 4 pieces.  Place the setting at the lowest number on the past roller (widest setting)
2. Place dough through the roller to initially flatten
3. Fold the dough in thirds, then place through roller.  Continue this process of folding and rolling through the widest setting 6 times.

4. After folding and rolling 6 times, change the dial to 2, roll the dough through and continue this until you reach the desired thickness of your pasta.  Most dials go up to 6 or 7.  The higher the number on the dial, the thinner the pasta.
5. Once you've reached the desired thickness, pass the dough through whichever shape you have available; spaghetti, linguine, fettuccini are the popular sizes availabe on most past makers.  You can also hand cut if you prefer by flouring the flattened dough and folding the two ends into the center, flouring again and then folding one half on top of the other. Rotate your dough 1 turn to the right and then with a sharp knife, slice the width of pasta you'd like.

Storing your fresh pasta:

1. When pasta has been rolled, shaped and ready you can eithr cook immediately, or freeze for future use.  (Many people invest in so-called pasta dryers. These basically look like mini clothese racks!  I find that the pasta dries out quickly and sticks to these things.) 

3.  When pasta has been cut, sprinkle with flour and be sure to coat all strands.  Line up strands of pasta and swirl into a nest.  Sprinkle a small amount of flour on top and place nests on a sheet pan lined with wax or parchment paper and place in freezer to freeze initially.  

4. Once frozen, place nests in freezer bags layered with parchment or wax paper or tupperware and keep in freezer for up to 3 months.

*Flours!  I know you've been wondering about that little asterisk.  All you should know is that this works great with different types of flour.  I have tried all wheat, but found the dough was a little tougher then I prefer.  But, 1 cup whole wheat and 1 cup all purpose is fantastic and a family favorite. 

Try semolina, experiment with spelt, use whatever flour is interesting to you, just make it from scratch!

MJM

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