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Smokey Pork Ragu with Creamy Polenta

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Smokey Pork Polenta

I can still remember the first time I REALLY had GOOD polenta; I mean AWESOME polenta. Maybe it was the fact we were in Italy, high in the mountains, at our original family hometown in a restaurant operated by a close relative and 8 courses of the most MAGNIFICENT food I had ever tasted or maybe I just developed a certain affiliation for the “staple food” my family was raised on, I don’t know. Honestly, I believe it was the former……that quaint, rustic, family restaurant up in the mountains where all of our cares were left behind……in fact I know it was there.

During one of those 8 courses, my mother had asked to try polenta. She hadn’t really “loved” the dish and since we were not only in polenta “country” but also with our family, she decided it was time to retry the beloved dish.

When it came time for the polenta course, out came a large, copper pot, well used and piping hot; the pot itself was a masterpiece as I can’t imagine how old it was and the stories it could tell but inside was the beautiful yellow creamy polenta bubbling with local cheeses melted on top and a layer of a smoky pork ragu. The smell itself could have filled me but I wasn’t in a million years going to pass on a huge helping of this especially after I learned the “polenta process” of both time and ingredients. It isn’t a dish that can be prepared in a 20 minute meal, at least if it’s done right, that is for sure.

The chef filled our bowls with the deliciousness and while doing so explained his venture on finding the special cheeses that morning along with the local pork meat. He was inspired to create the ragu as it was not quite cold enough for the hearty Bolognese sauce of winter but just brisk enough to want something of a similar comfort. This was the most intriguing sauce I had ever eaten because while it sounded so rich, I actually found it balanced so perfectly and the “smoky” flavor from the wood oven infiltrated the meat with such a beautiful flavor. Between this and the nuisances of the cheeses, my palate was bursting with the sexiest of food profiles and each layer brought a new sensation.

This memory still lingers along with the other 7 courses we ate that memorable evening and upon returning home, I decided I had to attempt to recreate the polenta and pork dish. This wasn’t an easy task especially because the ingredients aren’t an exact equal but the wonderful choices we have allowed the food profile to take on its own characteristics which didn’t disappoint….so here is my take on the “perfect polenta comfort dish”, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Recently, we decided to have a table polenta party and served 3 different sauces for guests to choose from; we poured the polenta down the middle of a covered table and served the sauces along side. It was a total blast and the ragu was one of the choices to top off the polenta…..if you haven’t hosted a table polenta party, I highly recommend it, your guests and you will have the time of your lives and maybe you will transport for awhile to that restaurant up in the mountains of our Italian hometown….

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Smokey Pork Ragu
 
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Author:
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Italian
Serves: 10-12
Ingredients
  • For Smokey Pork Ragu:
  • One 4-pound piece of boneless pork shoulder
  • Smoked sea salt
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 Granny Smith apple, cut into 1-inch dice
  • 1 medium onion, cut into 1-inch dice
  • 1 carrot, cut into 1-inch dice
  • 1 celery rib, cut into 1-inch dice
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 3 thyme sprigs
  • ½ cup tomato paste
  • 1 cup dry white wine
  • 4 cups chicken stock or low-sodium broth
  • ⅓ cup Champagne vinegar
  • 3 tablespoons honey
  • 3 tablespoons mascarpone cheese
  • Freshly ground pepper
  • 1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley
  • Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
  • For Creamy Polenta:
  • Ingredients
  • 6 cups chicken stock
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • ¾ teaspoon salt
  • Pinch ground white pepper
  • 2 cups polenta
  • ½ cup freshly grated Fontina or Telme
  • ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra for dusting
Instructions
  1. For Smokey Pork Ragu:
  2. Preheat the oven to 300°. Season the pork with 1½ tablespoons of smoked salt. In a medium, enameled cast-iron casserole, heat the canola oil until shimmering. Add the pork and cook over moderately high heat, turning, until browned on all sides, 15 minutes. Transfer the pork to a plate.
  3. Add the apple, onion, carrot, celery, garlic and thyme to the casserole and cook over moderate heat until beginning to brown, about 6 minutes. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, until it deepens in color, about 2 minutes. Add the wine and bring to a boil. Add the chicken stock, vinegar and honey and bring to a simmer. Add the pork, cover and transfer the casserole to the oven. Braise the pork for about 3 hours, turning once halfway through, until very tender.
  4. Transfer the pork to a plate. Strain the sauce into a large bowl, gently pressing on the solids. Pour the sauce back into the pot. Using 2 forks, shred the pork; discard any large pieces of fat. Transfer the shredded pork to the sauce and stir in the mascarpone. Season the sauce with smoked salt and pepper. Cover and keep warm.
  5. For Creamy Polenta:
  6. In a heavy saucepan, combine the stock and milk, and bring to a boil. Add the salt. Whisk in the polenta and cook over low heat for about 30 minutes, stirring often, until the grains are soft. Fold in the cheeses. Serve immediately or reserve.
  7. To encourage polenta to come cleanly out of the pan, cook over medium heat. Run a spatula or wooden spoon around the sides of the pan to clean off the polenta. Do not stir, but wait and watch for a few seconds until a large bubble begins to form and pushes the polenta upward. Pour immediately into a warm dish.
  8. The polenta can be made ahead and reheated: add ¼ to ½ cupstock, cover the dish, and reheat over low heat. Whisk well before serving. Grate a dusting of Parmesan over the top just before serving.

 

Pork Loin Pasties with Caramelized Onions, Potatoes and Roasted Garlic

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These pockets of deliciousness are called pasties. They are Cornish and are traditionally filled with beef, potato, and onion and topped with a rich gravy but I fondly remember them as being called “love letters from home”, wondering why?

My parents grew up in Butte Montana and if you know anything or have heard anything about Butte, it is a copper mining town. People from ALL over the world migrated there at the turn of the century to get a piece of the action of the booming mining industry. All of the influxes of ethnicities is what made Butte the “melting pot” of the west and with that came all the wonderful cuisines.

It was and still is very very shall I say colorful? Oh let me be honest, it is a total trip to be there, total. Its worth a visit just for the experience, trust me. Maybe in another post I will fill you in on some Butte stories….

Now back to why they are called “love letters from home”. The underground miners worked long days in very dangerous conditions and they each carried a lunch bucket because when they went underground, they didn’t come back up until their shift was over, typically 10-12 hours. During their shift work, labor was really intense and they needed a substantial meal to get them through the long hours. The pasty was one of the staples in their lunch buckets for a couple of reasons, it was hearty but more importantly, every time a miner left for work there was a chance he wouldn’t come home so their wives or mothers sent these as a reminder they were loved and to return home at the end of each day.

I adored that story and when my mother and grandmother made these for us I always knew they were “love letters from home” and I like to pass that same feeling on when I make them for the ones I love.

I remember we always made them during the fall and winter because they are the ultimate comfort food. It took a small army of helpers for the prep work. We were enlisted to peel the potatoes, cut the onions or dice the meat while my mom or grandmother made that perfect crust.

As they baked, which felt like eternity, we anxiously stood near the oven. The smell was out of this world yummy and when they came out, we each chose the one we wanted, the more crust the better, slathered on a ton of gravy and mix all of it together with the homemade coleslaw.

Here is my personal version, filled with pork loin, roasted garlic, potatoes, and caramelized onions topped with a home made pork gravy. It is totally WORTH it to make them from scratch, I promise, after all, you are sending a “love letter from home” and those take time..

Pork Loin Pasties with Caramelized Onions and Roasted Garlic
 
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Author:
Recipe type: Main Dish
Cuisine: Cornish
Serves: 28
Ingredients
  • 10 lb Pork loin roast, diced to ¼ inch
  • 3 onion, halved and thinly sliced and caramelized
  • 1 Bunch garlic cloves, roasted
  • 10 Medium russet potatoes, peeled and cut in quarters
  • 12 Cups Flour
  • 12 Sticks Butter
  • 2 tsp Salt
  • 4 Cups ice water, plus more if needed
  • 1 Onion (Chopped)
  • 4 Pork loin ribs
  • 1 cup white wine, preferably pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc
  • Ham rue, I use "better than bullion brand"
  • Chicken rue, I use "better than bullion brand"
  • ½ Cup Flour
  • Salt and pepper
Instructions
  1. Early in morning, measure 6 cups flour in a bowl and cut up cold butter, salt and work together flour and butter until mealy. Add water slowly and just squeeze to bring together. Don't work dough or it will get too hard. Once it comes together, put into 4 small balls and put in fridge for at least 30 minutes. Repeat with other 6 cups flour.
  2. On stove top, heat medium sauté pan and add 2-3 T butter and melt. Add onion and cook down until caramelized.
  3. Heat oven to 350. In a sheet of foil, add a bunch of garlic cloves. Toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper and dot with a little butter. Roast until golden brown but shake foil packet 2-3 times while cooking.
  4. Cut up pork loin into small dice, ¼ inch. With a tabletop grinder or kitchen aide grinder attachment, grind potatoes. Put out 3 bowls and divide pork evenly. Add ⅓ potatoes without water and incorporate into meat. Season with salt and pepper. Fold in ⅓ onion and garlic. Repeat with other 2 bowls.
  5. Take 2 dough balls out and divide into 3 or 4 slices and start to roll out into individual rounds. Put a full scoop of meat plus a bit more. Brush with water. Top with butter and fold over. Trim extra dough and fold over and pinch together. Put on parchment lined baking sheet. Sheet should hold 5 pasties and each bowl should make about 9 pasties.
  6. Turn oven to 350 and brush top of pasties with milk. Cook for 45 min then switch for another 45 min.
  7. While making pasties, cook pork ribs with salt and pepper for 45 min to 1 hour.
  8. While pasties are cooking, put 1 stick of buttering Dutch oven over med heat.
  9. Add onion and sauté until translucent. Season with salt and pepper. Add drippings from ribs and ½ cup flour. Stir until rue. Add 1 cup wine and fill with water. Add ham rue to taste and a little chicken rue. Boil until thick and season as needed. Strain and return to pot.
  10. Serve pasties immediately with gravy and coleslaw.
  11. Can cut recipe down if wanting to make less but they freeze beautifully.
  12. If freezing, individually wrap each pasty in foil and place in a ziplock bag. Reheat at 300 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until heated through.

 

Delicious Pork Posole!

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Growing up in New Mexico, we ate posole all the time. It is especially popular as a dish during the holiday season, braised pork made from scratch and served with hominy and grandma’s homemade red chile sauce.

One of my favorite memories as a child was going to my friend Kathy’s house during the winter holiday break. She came from Mexican heritage and her grandmother always had the task of making the homemade red chile. Inevitably it would be snowing and after playing outside for hours making snow angels and sledding, we would come in frozen and soaked and sure enough there was always a change of clothes and a bowl of posole with homemade tortillas.

Years later I married my husband who is of Mexican decent and I was SURE he was a connoisseur of posole. Of course, before asking if he even liked it much less if he was a connoisseur, I had decided that I needed to become a master. On went the trials of perfecting the red chile sauce. Researching recipes, talking to grandmothers, I did it all and I was sure I was going to please my new groom.

I don’t remember how many chile pods I soaked and pureed nor how many aprons I stained but I do remember that as the date decended nearer and nearer, I realized I was never going to duplicate the heritage sauce and therefore would have to confess that afterall, I really wasn’t a master of posole….

After my last attempt, I slumped on the floor perplexed, I mean seriously, can it be this hard? There has to be something that the grandmother’s left out, was it an ingredient? Cooking time? Love? What was it? I guess at this point, it was a bit late to figure it out.

With my head down in a bit of shame, I went into my husband and got down on my knees and asked for forgiveness. He looked perplexed and a bit panicked really and then I blurted out that I WASN’T a master of his favorite dish and dropped my head on his knee in despair.

He breathed the biggest sign of relief (I guess I didn’t think he might have thought something WAY worse), he began to giggle and then break out into a belly roar. He announced that he wasn’t either, his mother didn’t make posole, and he didn’t like anything that was hot or spicy. OMG, seriously? I could have saved all those chile pods, aprons, and frustrations if I would have asked? I never would have thought that any person from Mexican heritage wasn’t a master of posole…..First lesson ask, second lesson don’t assume.

I decided in that moment that I had an opportunity. Instead, since I hadn’t perfected the red chile sauce much less even attempted the home made hominy, I was going to CREATE my version of posole and win my husbands heart, forever. Perfect.

With that motivation, this is the recipe I came up with. It is a more of a soup than traditional posole.  It is simple with bold flavors and uses both red and green chile. The only improvement that can be made to this dish is to use homemade stock, which is what I usually do.

Delicious Pork Posole!
 
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This is the simplest but BEST posole recipe, hearty and flavorful and gets better after a day or two.
Author:
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Mexican
Serves: 8
Ingredients
  • 2 lbs pork stew meat
  • 1 sweet onion, diced
  • 8 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 T dried oregano
  • 2 T New Mexico red chile powder
  • 10 ounces New Mexico green chiles, mild or medium, diced (can used canned if can't find fresh)
  • 2 - 28 ounce cans of hominy, white or yellow
  • 4 quarts low sodium chicken broth, preferably home made
  • sea salt and pepper to taste
  • Garnishings:
  • green cabbage
  • scallions
  • radishes
  • queso fresco
  • avocados
  • cilantro
Instructions
  1. Cut up meat, onion, and garlic. Peel, seed, and chop green chiles, if fresh. In a large dutch oven over medium heat, add, pork, onion, garlic, oregano, and red chile. Add 1 cup of chicken broth and cook until pork is a little "charred" and liquid has evaporated, about 30-40 minutes. Stir often and salt and pepper to taste.
  2. Add green chiles, hominy, and rest of chicken broth and bring to boil. Simmer over heat for 2 hours or until pork is really tender. Season more if necessary.
  3. Serve in large bowls and top with desired toppings