Calabrian Chili Slow Braised Pork Shoulder Ragu and Pasta
This recipe is one of our family favorites! One of the most remarkable things about Italian food is simple inexpensive cuts of meat like pork shoulder cooked slow for hours until it transforms into melt in your mouth perfection, each bite better than the last. This ragu calls for short think pasta like rigatoni or paccheri
Ingredients:
1 lb Rigatoni or Paccheri Pasta
2-3 lb bone in pork shoulder
50-75 oz container of chopped tomatoes
2-3 Tblsp Calabrian Chili Sauce
2-3 large cloves of sliced garlic
1 large diced onion
1 bunch chopped Italian flat leaf parsley
salt and pepper to taste
fresh grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
Trampolini Black Label EVOO for cooking and finishing
Directions:
Preheat oven to 225 degrees
Wash pork shoulder with water, dry with paper towels, rub with sea salt and pepper
Heat EVOO in large sauce pot, add pork shoulder and let brown on all sides turning once each side develops a nice golden brown color
Remover pork shoulder from pan
Add onions, garlic, Calabrian chili sauce, and 3/4 of chopped parsley, and saute lightly stirring for about 2 mins
Add chopped tomatoes and stir
Put pork shoulder back in pot, cover with lid and place in oven at 225 degrees for 6 hours
Take pot out of oven, remove lid carefully use tongs to hold and help shred/remove meat from bone
Remove bone and place on cutting board to remove some of the stubborn large pieces of meat from the bone and chop up meat to be put back into pot with the bone(having the whole bone cooking in the pot alongside the meat adds a lot of flavor).
Put lid back on and back in the oven for another hour at 225 degrees
Cook rigatoni "al dente" according to directions on package
Remove pot from oven, carefully remove lid, remove the bone, and pour 3/4 of sauce in another sauce pot
Add cooked rigatoni to original pot with 1/4 of sauce, stir and toss until sauce coats the pasta
Serve with an extra ladle of sauce on top of each serving, sprinkle with fresh grated parmigiano reggiano and garnish with remaining chopped parsley and a drizzle of Trampolini Black Label or Novello if seasonally available.