Tuscan Ragu Recipe

Here is the recipe for the fantastic pork ragu we cooked whilst planning the Tuscan wine holiday.

1.5 kg de-boned pork shoulder
6 oz diced pancetta
2 onions
4 stalks of celery
6 whole cloves
fresh rosemary
1 bottle of full-bodied red wine (ideally a sangiovese)
500 ml stock
2 tins whole tomatoes

Pre-heat the oven to 180C

Coat the pork shoulder with flout. Cover the bottom of casserole pot with oil. Heat until shimmering but not smoking and add pork. Sear the outsides of the meat for long enough that all the surface is covered with thick brown crust.

At the same time (or in advance if easier)... fry the pancetta until golden brown. Remove and reserve. Fry the veg in the pancetta juice (mmmm pig fat) until soft.

When finished browning the meat, add the wine, one small glass at a time. The first one will hiss and spit a fair amount. You want to burn off the alcohol so this is good. Once all the wine has been added, boil for five mins. Then add the pancetta, the fried veg, the tomatoes, the stock and 500ml of water.

Take the casserole dish off the stove, cover and put in the oven. Simmer for 3 hours. The liquid will reduce and the meat will be falling off the bone. Remove the meat. Strain the rest of the liquid and press through a sieve. The recipe says this should be discarded, but it tastes awesome so have it on the side. Skim the fat from the juice, shred the meat (the meat is so soft by this stage that this will just be a case of poking it lightly and it will fall to pieces).

Put the shredded meat and the skimmed juice into a pan, heat through and then have with fresh pasta. Make appreciative noises about how awesome it tastes.