Homemade Pappardelle with pork tenderloin Ragù
It isn’t Sunday unless we make sauce. Some of my cousins call it Sunday gravy, but whatever you want to call it, I’m all for the smell of slowly cooking meat blended with they think tomatoes and a touch of herbs. Homemade Pappardelle with Pork Tenderloin Ragù will grace your table with a hearty meal.
Italians always start a good Ragù with a sofritto; it consists of onions, carrots and celery.
The comfort of pork
I reminisced about the way my grandparents raised the family pig and it provided meat for the whole year. However, the pig’s cousin the boar is adored by many in Italy; you can find one that brings good luck: “Il Porcellino” at the famous bronze fountain at the Mercato del Porcellino, in Florence Today. In Italy the favourite pork comes from wild boar also known as Cinghiale, and Pappardelle Cinghiale is Tuscany’s national dish. What is the difference between a pig and a boar? The pig lives in a barnyard and a boar lives out in the wild. Boar meat is tastier and sweeter.
For more information visit https://www.visittuscany.com/en/ideas/wild-boar-in-tuscany/
The Pappardelle
Mom says not to be afraid of pasta making; she makes it look very easy. After all, pasta is simply flour and eggs. Some add oil, salt or water, but mom says make it simple. She prepares it on the counter with the eggs in the middle and does it by hand. I use my kitchen blender and it is good. Today I will serve the Ragù with pappardelle, which are a very broad flat noodle pasta. The pasta machine will help me stretch the pasta; however, mom does it all by hand. I use semolina for dusting.
The Pasta is smooth and silk like in texture.
The Sauce
The sauce is simple, hearty and tasty. I use pork tenderloin because it is tender and lean and it helps me control the fat in my cooking. To build on flavour, I use good olive oil. It cooks slowly to thicken and caramelize ; there is no other taste like this.
The sauce is thick and delicious.
Pappardelle with Pork Tenderloin Ragu
A hearty dish that warms the heart.
Ingredients
The Pasta Dough
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 eggs
- 1-2 tbsp water if needed
- semolina flour for dusting as much as needed
The Soffritto
- 1 large celery stalk diced
- 2 small carrots diced
- 1 large onion diced
The Pork Tenderloin Ragu
- medium size pork tenderloin
- 1 tsp each dried oregano, fennel and salt
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 tsp salt
- freshly ground pepper
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 3 cups canned whole tomatoes smash with the back of a fork
- 1 cup tomato puree
- chopped parsley to sprinkle on the finished dish
- olive oil as much as needed
Instructions
The Pasta Dough
-
Mix together all the ingredients for the dough. You can do it by hand, but I like using a blender. It's fast.
When the dough comes together into a ball, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
The Sauce
-
Dice all the ingredients for the soffritto and try to make the pieces all the same size.
Prepare your pork tenderloin by mixing the dried spices.
Put the spices on a piece of wax paper or parchment. Drizzle the tenderloin with some olive oil and rub in the minced garlic. Now roll the tenderloin in the spices.
Cut the tenderloin into small cubes about 1 inch in size. Place in a hot pan that has 2 tbsp of olive oil.
Salt and pepper the meat again and let brown.
After a few minutes add the soffritto mixture and let cook for 2 minutes.
Deglaze pan with wine.
Add tomatoes and tomato puree. Mash whole tomatoes with the back of a fork, but leave chunks.
Bring everything to a boil.
Cover and cook over medium/low heat for 1 1/2 hours.
Sauce should be thick.
Marrying the Pasta and the Sauce
-
Bring a large pot to boil.
When it boils add enough salt so that it tastes like the sea. 🙂
Add the pasta. Fresh pasta only needs to cook for a few minutes.
Drain well.
Put the pasta into the sauce pan and toss.
Serve with fresh parmesan and chopped parsley. Drizzle with some olive oil.
you don’t cut the pasta, but simply drop the whole ball of dough in salted boiling water??
The instructions are under the subtitle Pappardelle:Mom says not to be afraid of pasta making; she makes it look very easy. After all, pasta is simply flour and eggs. Some add oil, salt or water, but mom says make it simple. She prepares it on the counter with the eggs in the middle and does it by hand. I use my kitchen blender and it is good. Today I will serve the Ragù with pappardelle, which are a very broad flat noodle pasta. The pasta machine will help me stretch the pasta; however, mom does it all by hand. I use semolina for dusting. I do step-by-step in the writing. Let me know if you have any other questions and thanks for pointing this out. I should be more specific in the recipe portion. Enjoy!!
This is the same way my Neapolitan aunt made pasta.
Back to basics for us all. We have the added convenience of a pasta machine; they did it all by hand.