Pork and Pappardelle Pasta

I finally made the P&PP last night.  It really was delicious.  I learned a couple of things that I would do differently next time.  Which there definitely will be a next time.  I decided to place the link to the recipe here, and then follow with some comments and pictures.

I removed the link and just put in the recipe and the changes I made are highlighted in purple.  I figure there is less confusion that way.

Ingredients:

Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons EVOO, plus more for drizzling
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 large white onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon crushed red chili flakes - If you don't want it too hot, try 1/2-3/4 teaspoon
2 cups chicken stock
3-4 cups shredded Simple Roasted Pork Shoulder, recipe follows
1 pound dried pappardelle pasta
Freshly grated Parmesan, for garnish
Chopped fresh parsley for garnish
Red chili flakes, for garnish

 Directions:
 Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Add lots of salt right before adding pasta
Heat 3 tablespoons oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat.   Add the garlic and onions and cook about 5 minutes.

Stir in the tomato paste and red chili flakes.

When you are ready to serve, drop  the pasta into the boiling water and cook 6 to 8 minutes.  Remove the pasta and place directly into the sauce.

After a minute or so, add the chicken stock and pork, and season with salt and pepper.  Reduce the heat and cover and simmer an additional 10 minutes.

Place the pasta into warmed bowls, spooning extra sauce over the top of each portion.  Garnish with Parmesan, parsley and chili flakes.  Drizzle with olive oil, if desired.  Cook, tossing the pasta with the sauce, another 2 minutes, and then turn off the heat.

Simple Roasted Pork Shoulder:

3 tablespoons EVOO
3 tablespoons chopped garlic
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 (4 pound pork shoulder - Bone-in and not smoked

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

In a small bowl, mix the EVOO, garlic, salt and pepper.  Using a pastry brush, spread the mixture all over the pork shoulder.

Set the meat on a rack set into a roasting pan.  Roast for 20 minutes, and then reduce the heat to 325 degrees.  Continue to cook until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the shoulder reads 185 degrees, about 4 hours.

Remove the pork from the oven and let stand until cool enough to handle, about 30 minutes.

These are the basic ingredients to the sauce.  The chicken stock is on the other counter.  How lax of me.  Oil well... you get the picture.

So far so good.  Once I got the onion and garlic softened but now browned, I added the crushed red chili flakes, tomato paste, salt and pepper.  The recipe calls for a teaspoon of the crushed red chili flakes.  We loved it like that, although it was hot.  If you want to tone it down a touch, I would go with a half teaspoon.

I let this simmer for about a minute.

Then I added the chicken stock and the pork.  Now at this point I have my first tip.  I would definitely use more than 2 cups of pork.  I would put in at least another cup.  You can sort of see from the picture that it is a little lacking.

In the recipe they say to simmer it covered for ten minutes.  This particular pan didn't come with a cover, so I improvised with tin foil.  Looking back, I would have simmered it without covering it.  I really don't think it would make much of a difference in this instance, and I like being able to monitor and stir it as I go.

The recipe called for individual bowls that are heated up.  I prefer family style, so I heated up one of my favorite bowls (which my mother gave me probably 25 years ago) at 225 degrees for about 10 minutes.  But more time would have been fine too.

Now I have the sauce simmering and the pasta boiling.  An important note is to salt the pasta water before adding the pasta (if you forget, just add it while it is still boiling).  Mario Batali says to salt it so it tastes like the sea.  Nice analogy, nes cafe?  Want a picture?  Okay.

The sea wasn't angry this day my friends!

Now it is spider time.  UD held the spider while I snapped the photo.  Some of the pasta water will drip into the sauce, which is a good thing.  Between the starch and the salt in the water, it will add texture and flavor.

This is when we first put in the pasta.

This is it all mixed together and garnished with parm cheese, parsley and some more of that devilish crushed red chili pepper flakes.  Note the Red Sox coaster with their schedule in the back ground.  Thank goodness they finally won a game today!

And there is nothing like leftovers.

A bientot!  The English left me and the French took over.  In other words, see you soon!