NEOPOLITAN STYLE RAGU

NEOPOLITAN STYLE RAGU image

Categories Pork

Yield 8 servings

Number Of Ingredients 16

Ingredients

2 pounds boneless pork butt, in 1 piece
2 teaspoons salt, divided, more to taste
Pepper
2 tablespoons finely minced parsley
1 pound onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic
1/3 cup chopped pancetta
1/4 cup chopped prosciutto
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cups dry red wine
1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
1 cup crushed tomatoes or tomato puree
1/2 pound Italian sausage, crumbled
1 pound dried pasta, such as rigatoni, penne or fusilli
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus more on the side

Steps:

1. Season the pork with 1 t salt and pepper. 2. In a food processor, chop together parsley, onions, garlic, pancetta and prosciutto to make a very coarse paste. 3. Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-low heat. Add seasoning paste and another t salt and cook until the paste is fragrant and no more liquid appears when it is stirred, about 7 minutes. 4. Add pork roast, cover and reduce the heat to low. Cook, turning every 15 min until meat is lightly browned and onions have begun to color, about 1 hour. 5. Add red wine, loosely cover and continue cooking until wine reduces to a thick sauce, about 1 hour, stirring occasionally. If, after 1 hour and 15 minutes, wine has not reduced sufficiently, remove the roast to a plate, increase heat to medium-high and cook sauce until it thickens. 6. Over low heat, stir in tomato paste, 2 or 3 T at a time, stirring in each addition until it mixes into the sauce and darkens to a brick color. Stir in crushed tomatoes, return roast to the pan if previously removed, and cover and continue to cook, turning meat every 30 minutes and stirring the sauce until meat is tender enough to be easily pierced with a meat fork, 2 to 2 1/2 hours. If sauce dries out too much and meat begins to stick to the bottom of the pan, stir in a T or two of water. 7. Remove roast to a plate and keep warm until ready to serve. Crumble Italian sausage into sauce and cook until sauce is extremely dark, unctuous, shiny and thick, stirring occasionally, about another hour. (The dish can be prepared to this point and refrigerated overnight.) 8. Cook pasta in plenty of rapidly boiling, heavily salted water. 9. When the pasta is cooked but still slightly chewy, drain it and toss it in a bowl with the butter. Spoon over half of the sauce and toss just to coat lightly. Transfer to a serving bowl and spoon more sauce over the top. Sprinkle over the Parmigiano-Reggiano and pass more on the side.