This is the second version of a pasta dish I made from a pork ragu. I had bought a half pork shoulder, braised it in white wine and chicken stock with fennel, red onion, carrots, and celery, shredded the meat, and continued to braise for a total of about four hours. I only paid about $4 for the bone-in half shoulder, and it gave me eight or nine servings of ragu – enough for me to make two different versions from the base recipe.

I finished the first version with escarole and orange zest, to add bitter green and sweet citrus notes to the dish. This version, then, I finished with green olives and toasted almonds, a delicious combination used in parts of Italy where both of those are grown. Although I was happy with the escarole version, this one was my favorite, because the play of the nuttiness, crunch, and brininess of the almonds and olives against the rich, smooth ragu was so enjoyable.

For some reason I was in the mood for pickles recently. So, I bought a few extra vegetables while ingredient shopping for a few recipes, and made a little medley of pickled vegetables. These types of pickles are a great antipasto, and can also be used in a salad or to garnish an entrée.

One thing that’s great about pickles is that, within reason, they don’t go bad, so it’s easy to always have a jar of them on hand in the fridge, next to the olives and salted anchovies.

I made these pickles by the Swedish ratio, as I wanted a sweeter pickle. The Swedes use 1 part vinegar to 2 parts sugar to 3 parts water – that’s a fair amount of sugar. Italian pickles are a lot less sweet, and more vinegary. I like both types, the sweeter one and the more acidic one, and they both have their place.

Pork ragu and other hearty meat sauces are one of the specialties of the Northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna. They are paired with tagliatelle, the regional pasta, a fresh string noodle about 1/4 inch thick.

Pork shoulder is an excellent cut for a braised ragu – it’s inexpensive, and the long, slow cooking brings out quite a lot of flavor. I was at the grocery store recently and saw half pork shoulders, bone-in, for around $4. I had in mind making a ragu for tagliatelle, and decided to buy one.

Half a pork shoulder actually yields a fair amount of meat. In fact I decided to make two different versions of the braise.

So, I diced up some red onion, carrot, celery, and fennel, seared off the pork, sweated the vegetables, and braised the pork for over three hours. Halfway through I removed the pork, allowed it to cool a little, and shredded the meat with two forks, then returned it to the braise. I also returned its large bone, to add flavor throughout the rest of the cooking.

For this first version of the recipe, I finished the ragu with orange zest and escarole, a delicious, slightly bitter chicory that retains a slight crunch even when wilted.

The second version is finished with green olives and sliced, toasted almonds.

I don’t have a recipe to post for this pasta, since I wasn’t following one. Basically, if you know how to braise meat, just make a normal braise, and make a pasta sauce out of it. Be sure to break up the meat into smallish pieces, and leave the sauce a little loose, so it can coat the pasta. The best thing to do with pasta and sauces is to just combine ingredients that go well together, and not worry about how much of this or that.

Braising the pork shoulder in chicken stock and wine.

Heating a portion of the ragu, and wilting the escarole

]]> http://www.heatandknives.com/2010/07/tagliatelle-with-fennel-pork-ragu-escarole-and-orange-zest/feed/ 0 http://www.heatandknives.com/2008/11/fennel-tomato-soup/ http://www.heatandknives.com/2008/11/fennel-tomato-soup/#comments Mon, 01 Dec 2008 03:35:27 +0000 Heat & Knives http://heatandknives.wordpress.com/?p=106

Needs a bit of garnish. Parsley would do well but I was out.

I had tons of chicken stock in the freezer and wanted to clear some out, so I made a couple French soups from Anthony Bourdain’s Les Halles Cookbook (a great book by the way, I love the dude’s commentary). The first one is this tomato fennel, a light, creamy soup with subtle flavors and a lovely light orange hue. (The other one is a delicious Mushroom Soup).

Not real hearty so don’t try and make a meal of it. But it’s so easy to put together to add some color and variety to an after-work meal, or to start out a nice dinner. Just sweat the veggies, add the stock, simmer an hour, blend, and serve. So long as you’ve got some quality chicken stock in the freezer, which you should at all times, you can break out this dish without even thinking about it. If you don’t have any good stock on hand, try it with veggie stock, which should work just as well.

Fennel bulb slices

Tomatoes added

Chicken stock added, soup brought to simmer

I like to make soup in quantity and freeze it in portions.