RIGATONI WITH PULLED PORK SAUCE

Have I ever mentioned how much I absolutely love any recipe that includes some sort of pulled pork in the ingredients...no....yes....well I do!  Sometimes I throw a pork roast in the slow cooker and make some sort of sauce or meat sandwhich with it, but when I really want that slow roasted flavor to come out, I go crazy and roast it for a few hours in the oven.  I found a recipe in my Jan-09 Gourmet magazine ( so sad that they are no longer in publication).  I adapted it a bit but all in all the recipe included most of the same flavors.  For a more "robust" flavor I substituted some beef broth for chicken broth. I also increased the amount of broth for the recipe because they did not include any in the pan when they roast their pork.  In my experience if you do not put any liquid in the bottom of the roasting pan, the pan will eventually burn.  I add about 1 cup of broth every 1/2 hour to hour depending on how fast it evaporates.  The one other key flavor that I added was the chopped celery leaves.  I am not a huge celery fan at all, but when cooking certain foods and sauces celery is a must.  Not only is the celery stalk needed, but I have found an ingredient best friend in the celery leaves.  Add just a tablespoon and it just gives a recipe that certain something.  Try it and you will see.  I also add chopped celery leaves to my roasted red peppers....I will post that recipe shortly.  Anyway...to get back to my Rigatoni with Pulled Pork Sauce; this dinner was so awesome!  It is really filling and by the time you add the 2-3 pounded shredded pork to the sauce you pound of pasta now becomes 3 to 4 pounds of yummy stick to your ribs goodness!

 

 

 

RIGATONI WITH PULLED PORK SAUCE 

• 2 - 3 lb. boneless pork butt roast ( I chose the 3 lb. because I wanted more meat than pasta)
• 4 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 1 lb. dried rigatoni
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 celery ribs, chopped
• 1 TB. chopped celery leaves
• 2 garlic cloves, chipped
• 1 TB. dried oregano
• 2-3 TB. tomato paste - depends on how tomatoey (is that a word) you would like it.
• 1 1/2 cups dry white wine
• 4 cups reduced sodium beef broth
• 1  drained and rinsed cans of northern beans
• 1 TB. cider vinegar
• fresh ground pepper
• fresh grated parmesan cheese ( do not use the bottled kind - get a big block of it at Costco and actually freshly grate that stuff...it is amazing how it changes the taste of your recipe.
• 1/4 cup olive oil

1. Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees with rack in the middle.
2. Pat pork dry and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  ( I prefer kosher salt).  Place about 1 cup of low sodium chicken broth in the bottom of the roasting pan.  I also using a roasting rack that I place the roast on first then place in the roasting pan so the roast does not sit directly on the bottom of the pan.
3. Tightly cover the pan with aluminum foil.  Roast in oven for about 2 hours.  Checking every 1/2 hour - if bottom of pan gets dry add another cup of chicken broth.
4. Uncover and continue to roast until some of the mat begins to pull apart easily, another 1 to 2 hours more.
5. Remove from oven and transfer pork roast to a cutting board.  Let sit for about 10 minutes.
6. Take two forks and shred the pork into bite zsize pieces.  Place shredded pork to the side.
7. In the meantime place the entire roasting pan on top of your burners on your stove.  Turn flame on to medium low. 

8. If there is not a lot of juice on bottom of pan add a bit of beef broth - about 1/2 cup.
9. Add chopped onion, celery and  celery leaves.   Saute, stirring often, until they soften- about 8 minutes or so.
10. Add the garlic and oregano and cook, stirring, about 3 minutes.
11. Add tomato paste and cook, stirring another 3 minutes.
12. Stir in wine, beef broth, beans, vinegar and shredded pork.  Let this cook uncovered in the roasting pan for about 30 minutes.
13. In the meantime boil some salted water for your pasta.  Cook your pasta for only about 8 minutes - you want it realy al'dente (pasta will not be fully cooked).  Reserve 2 cups pasta water and set aside.  Drain pasta.  Add pasta back to the pasta pot with the 1/4 cup of olive oil and mix. Put pot on stove, but do not turn it on.

14. Once the shredded pork mixture has cooked for about 1/2 hour add the mixture to the pasta.  Add 1 cup of the pasta water to the  mixture.  Turn the stove on to medium-low and cook for about 10 minutes.  During this process the pasta will cook some more and the sauce will soak into the pasta a bit.  If you need to add the second cup of pasta water to thin the sauce you can do so at this time.
15. Remove from heat - place in a large pasta serving bowl.  Sprinkle with fresh grated parmesan and serve asap.