Pork and Fennel Ragu
This was my Saturday night, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. You can bet there was an Italian record spinning while I was in the kitchen.
It was just as good as it looks. Compliments of the November issue of La Cucina Italiana.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 pound ground pork shoulder
- 3 leafy sage sprigs
- 1 rosemary sprig
- 1/2 cup finely chopped yellow onion
- 1/3 cup finely chopped carrot
- 1/4 cup finely chopped celery
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1 cup broth
- 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons finely chopped fennel [I used primarily the bulb–the magazine didn’t state leaves vs bulb]
- 1/2 cup dry red wine
- Salt
- 3/4 pound spaghetti/linguine/noodle of choice
- 1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
- 3 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
Preparation
- In a large skillet, heat oil over high heat.
- Add pork, sage, and rosemary, cooking to break up the pork as it cooks.
- After 4 minutes, add the onion, carrot, and celery.
- Stir occasionally for 4-5 minutes until the vegetables soften.
- Sprinkle the flour over the mixture, stirring until the flour is wet.
- Add the broth, fennel, and wine, mixing well.
- Bring mixture to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer.
- Let simmer for 20 minutes, tasting occasionally to see how much salt you like.
- Now is a perfect time to cook the pasta according to package directions.
- Drain the pasta and add to the serving dish.
- When the ragu has thickened to desired consistency, pour over the the pasta.
- Toss to incorporate.
- Top with half of the cheese and stir again.
- Top with the remaining cheese and parsley.
- This supposedly makes 6 servings, but it ended up being enough for 2 + a small portion for the next day.
Awesomesauce!!
Thanks, JamieAnne!
These photos are gorgeous! Especially that rosemary picture! But all of them–ahh, stunning. Do you have a fancy camera? And the recipe sounds tasty tasty! I love fennel seeds in anything and everything, but had one bad fresh fennel experience and haven’t tried again. It’s on that good ol’ to do list.
The rosemary photo is my favorite, too! While that is my camera, I can’t take all the credit. Andrew was my photographer while I was cooking. I have a Canon Rebel XT with a 50mm lens. Nothing too fancy. Having manual settings makes a huge difference when trying to make the most of the photos. It also helps to know what you’re doing. Which I don’t. :p
This was my first time cooking with fennel. It’s like a spicier celery, but it cooks down into being pretty neutral. I have a fennel fried couscous coming up that it was pretty good in, too!
Sounds pretty fancy to me–but I just have a super-cheap point and shoot (which I love, but yeah, limited manual options). Hmm, that couscous sounds interesting, looking forward to the recipe!
I actually really do love fennel, but we’ve yet to cook with it. 🙂
I think you should change that!
yum. this looks like the perfect fall meal.
It’s pretty awesome. The amount of noodles in the original recipe were way too overpowering for the sauce. I didn’t know there was such a thing as too much pasta.
Made this tonight and it was incredible! Served it over some farro spaghettini (Casino Di Caprafico brand, from City Market – highly recommended by the way). This ragu could be served over any pasta… over polenta would be fabulous… though non-traditional, it would be wonderful over mashed potatoes. Hell, maybe over ice cream. All I changed was to add some (uncalled for) black pepper. I tasted for salt but didn’t add any until I added the Parmesan – after which it needed a little but not much. What a keeper – thanks Michelle!
It’s so funny that you mention the black pepper. I wanted to add some towards the end, and Andrew told me I wasn’t allowed. Hahaha. So glad you loved it. I totally agree it could be eaten over anything! It’s so good.