Pork Sauce

So this recipe comes with a story.  One of the first dinners I ate at my wifes house back when we were dating was pasta with meatballs and sausage

As I was eating, I came across chunks of soft meat in the sauce that were absolutely delicious

As it turns out my Mother in Law, or Grandma Mary, as she is affectionately known, would add left over meat like chicken or in this case pork chops to her sauce while it cooked for more flavor

Many years later while trying to think of something a little bit different for dinner I had an epiphany

Why not make the whole sauce with that delicious pork!

Thank you for the inspiration Grandma Mary!

You can make this sauce with boneless pork chops,  pork stew meat or with bone in pork chops, which is what I chose to do here

An important note though, if using bone in you will have to dig through the sauce later on to remove the bones as the meat will fall right off of them

I’m starting off with 6 bone in pork chops seasoned with kosher salt and ground black pepper

Heat 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in a pot over medium heat.  Sear your chops for 3-4 minutes per side

Once all the chops have been browned, remove them and set aside

Next we will start with some sauce basics

We will need 1 onion, 2 carrots, 1 celery stalk, 6 garlic cloves, 1/2 teaspoon each of kosher salt, ground black pepper, crushed red pepper and 2 bay leaves

You may be asking why carrots?  Well, they act as a natural sweetener for the sauce and it also helps neutralize the acid in the tomatoes

 Add the crushed red pepper flakes and bay leaves into the pot and cook for 2-3 minutes

  This will toast them a little and release a lot more flavor and aroma

Chop the onions, celery and garlic

I like to use a peeler to shave the carrots down, then I give them a rough chop this way they pretty much just melt

Add your veggies to the pot and sprinkle them with some kosher salt and ground black pepper

Cook 5-6 minutes stirring occasionally

Next we will need 1 cup of dry red wine (like a Cabernet) and 6 ounces of tomato paste

Start deglazing the pan with the red wine

Bring it to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook 4-5 minutes while scraping up any browned bits off the bottom that were left by the chops

Next add in the tomato paste and stir to combine

Cook 1-2 minutes

Add in three 28 ounce cans of crushed tomatoes, 1 cup of water and 1 tablespoon of sugar and stir to combine

Add your pork back in, bring to a boil, reduce heat to a low simmer and cook for 2 hours or until the pork falls right of the bone

Make sure you pick all the bones out before serving

Serve this over 1 pound of your favorite pasta (cooked according to the directions for al dente), we used rotini

Top with some shredded parmesan cheese!

Enjoy!!!

Tools used to make this recipe

Simply Bamboo Cutting Board

Wilton Recipe Right 3 Piece Cookie Pan Set

Anchor Hocking 8 Cup Measuring Cup

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