This was a great discovery from Jessica Filby of Canteen, in London. It’s a lighter but still incredibly flavorful ragù that’s perfect for summer, including a cook low and slow in the oven.
This can work with many pasta shapes. It would be great with fresh tagliatelle. The source recipe calls for rigatoni, or (my personal preference) mezze maniche.
Budget around 100 g of dried pasta for a main or 50 g to serve this as a starter.
Ingredients
- Olive oil
- 1 red onion, finely diced
- 1 stalk celery, finely diced
- 1 small bulb fennel, finely diced
- 80 g pancetta, cut into very small cubes
- 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 2 sage leaves
- 1 sprig rosemary
- 1 sprig thyme
- Peel of 1 lemon
- Peel of 1 small orange
- 600 g ground pork
- 300 g white wine
- 400 g whole milk
- 2 bay leaves
- Salt
Method
In a Dutch oven over medium heat, add a thin film of olive oil. Then add the onion, celery, fennel, and pancetta. Sweat down the aromatics and pancetta until the vegetables are very soft.
Then add the garlic, herbs, and citrus peel. Continue the cooking until the garlic is fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes.
Decant the vegetables into a small bowl. Then add a new film of olive oil to the pan. When the oil is hot, add the pork. Cook the pork until it’s all nicely browned.
Preheat an oven to 150 °C (300 °F)
Deglaze the pan with the wine, and scrape the bottom of the pan clean. Then add the reserved vegetables back to the pan along with the milk and bay leaves. Bring everything to a gentle simmer.
Then cover the pan and transfer it to the oven. Let the sauce simmer for about 2 hours.
To serve, loosen and emulsify the sauce with cooking water from the pasta. Finish the pasta with black pepper and Parmesan.