Pork Sugo With Orecchiette and Baby Argula Salad Sunbasket

Rich and comforting, this orecchiette with pork ragu is layered with lots of season and texture from the diced eggplant, herbs, garlic and ruby wine—it's everything one craves in a succulent bowl of bootleg pasta!

Orecchiette with Pork Ragu, "Little Ears" of Deliciousness

Aught is more precious to me when information technology comes to food than when a dish is both whimsical and divinely scrumptious. It merely makes the dining experience that much more playful and enjoyable!

And this orecchiette with pork ragu is just such an exquisite dish.

Orecchiette means "little ears" in Italian, and this fun petty variety of pasta indeed looks just like fiddling ears, perfectly shaped to agree footling bits of pork and eggplant from the savory pork ragu, forth with the glossy and rich sauce.

Orecchiette and hearty pork ragu are a match made in heaven. This rich combination makes for the perfect bowl of spoonable condolement, and an irresistibly meaty and hearty pasta extravaganza!

A Rich Pork Ragu to Go with Tender Orecchiette

One of my favorite things to cook and consume is a prissy, rich meaty ragu served over top of tender pasta with a sprinkle of fresh herbs and some freshly grated cheese.

This is pretty much the epitome of "comfort food" for me.

And what I dearest well-nigh a dish like this is that it's basically a one-pan preparation that requires only a fleck of patience from me earlier I'm partaking in a gloriously flavorful and pleasurable repast.

I love to make my pork ragu fairly substantial, filled with lots of complex layers and textures. So I opt to prepare it with the addition of diced and caramelized eggplant, a hefty amount of garlic and onion, a generous pinch of seasoning and spice, and even some carmine vino.

This delicious concoction simmers together for nigh 40 minutes to permit those deep and nuanced flavors to ally earlier the tender and delicate orecchiette pasta is added directly into the pan, becoming slathered in all of that glossy richness.

The pork ragu lends some heartiness, and the orecchiette adds that tender-yet-toothsome bite; and together, this wonderful combination is and then best served upward in a bowl and eaten with a spoon, which makes information technology so rustic and cozy!

How to Brand Orecchiette with Pork Ragu

In order to create the nearly flavour possible, I like to use ground pork and season it myself.

I so build the ragu layer by layer in the pan, giving it some fourth dimension for the flavors to mingle and deepen before adding my cooked orecchiette pasta in at the stop.

Here's a glance at my orecchiette pasta:

1. I mix together my basis pork with some salt, pepper, fennel seeds, cherry-red pepper flakes, garlic and stale oregano, and set aside for a moment.
2. With a heavy-bottom pan over medium-high heat, I add together in some olive oil, and sauté my diced eggplant and onions.
3. When caramelized and gilded, I remove the veggies from the pan and agree them on a plate while I dark-brown my seasoned ground pork for a few minutes in the pan I just used.
4. Then, I add together back into the pan the eggplant and onion mixture, along with garlic and so wine, followed by the diced tomatoes (with their juice).
5. I leave my lid slightly askew and permit the ragu to simmer for about 45 minutes until rich and thickened.
6. Next, while the ragu is cooking, I cook my orecchiette until al dente, and continue it warm.
7. To finish things up, I add fresh herbs to my pork ragu, then add in the cooked orecchiette pasta, and fold together. I drizzle over a impact more olive oil, spoon into my bowl, and garnish with grated asiago cheese.

(The full recipe is beneath...)

Tips & Tidbits for Orecchiette with Pork Ragu:

• Footing pork: I use footing pork for this recipe, and season it myself; notwithstanding, you can substitute spicy pork sausage too (simply remove it from the casing). You lot tin can also substitute ground beef, turkey, or chicken, if you prefer.
• Wine for depth: The addition of ruby wine in this pork ragu is delicious, just experience free to leave it out if y'all adopt.
• Fourth dimension to simmer: Allowing the pork ragu to simmer for 45 minutes creates a scrap more body and depth to the sauce, and allows the eggplant to sort of melt into it. Patience creates more flavor! 😉
• Cooking the orecchiette pasta: Because of the shape of the orecchiette, they tend to stick to each other a niggling flake when cooking. I like to add a good drizzle of olive oil into my salted h2o for the cooking of it, and stir the pasta well right after pouring it into the humid h2o (likewise as occasionally during the cooking procedure).

Feast your eyes on these, or but bound to the recipe:

Recipe

Orecchiette with Pork Ragu

by Ingrid Beer

Rich and comforting, this orecchiette with pork ragu is layered with lots of flavor and texture—it's everything one craves in a delicious bowl of homemade pasta!

Category: Entree
Cuisine: Italian-American

Yield: Serves four

Diet Info: 527 calories

Prep Time: twenty minutes
Melt fourth dimension: 45 minutes
Total time: one 60 minutes, 5 minutes

Ingredients:

• ½ pound ground pork
• Common salt
• Blackness pepper
• ¼ teaspoon fennel seeds, lightly toasted and crushed
• ¼ teaspoon (more or less depending on taste) red pepper flakes
• iv cloves garlic, pressed through garlic press, divided use
• 1 teaspoon dry out oregano
• Olive oil
• 1 minor onion, finely chopped
• 4 very small (Italian) eggplants, diced into small ½" cubes
• ⅓ loving cup blood-red wine
• 1 (28 ounce / 794 gram) can San Marzano diced tomatoes
• 8 ounces orecchiette pasta (nearly half a package)
• 1 tablespoon fresh oregano leaves, roughly chopped
• ane tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 cup grated asiago cheese, for garnish

Preparation:

-In a medium-size bowl, add the ground pork, nearly ¼ teaspoon of salt, near ¼ teaspoon of black pepper, the fennel seeds, the crimson pepper flakes, 1 clove of the pressed garlic, and ¼ teaspoon of the dry oregano, and mix well with fingers to combine; set aside.

-Place a heavy-bottom braiser or large pan over medium-high oestrus, and add together most 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil to information technology; once the oil is hot, add in the onion and the eggplant, and sauté/caramelize for about 6 minutes until a light golden colour; once caramelized, remove the eggplant/onion mixture with a slotted spoon, and set up aside for a moment.

-Next, add another little drizzle of olive oil to the pan, followed by trivial chunks of the ground seasoned pork, sort of "crumbling" them in (yous desire to keep the meat slightly chunky and not accept it completely "melt" into the sauce).

-Sauté the pork in the oil, gently moving it with a spoon to dark-brown for almost 4-5 minutes; then, add the eggplant/onion mixture back into the pan with the pork, adding some other pinch of salt and black pepper, as well as the remaining iii cloves of pressed garlic.

-Stir the mixture together gently, and then add the vino in, scraping upwardly the skillful, browned bits on the lesser of the pan.

-Add in the diced San Marzano tomatoes and the remaining dried oregano and stir; identify the lid slightly askew on the braiser/pan, and simmer on depression for 45 minutes until thickened.

-During the final 20 minutes or so that the ragu cooks, cook the orecchiette co-ordinate to package instructions; once cooked, drain the pasta, and drizzle with some olive oil to go along information technology from sticking; go out it in the colander covered with a kitchen towel to go along warm until the sauce is finished.

-Once the ragu has simmered, plough the heat off, and add the chopped fresh oregano and parsley, and stir to combine.

-Add together the cooked pasta straight into the sauce and stir to combine, then serve in bowls garnished with a generous amount of the grated asiago cheese.

Hungry for more pasta recipes? Check out this recipe for Italian "Drunken" Noodles, this Bucatini Pasta with Garlic-Butter Sauce, and this Cajun Shrimp Pasta!

Cook'due south Notation: This post was originally published in 2012, and has been updated with even more dearest!

Ingrid obtained her Culinary Arts degree in 2005 after graduating with honors from the California School of Culinary Arts (Le Cordon Bleu program) in Pasadena, CA.

She has had the pleasure and privilege of being the Executive Chef for two substance abuse facilities in Malibu, Ca., as well equally a personal chef for private clients.

More about Ingrid →

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