Pork cheeks have a wonderful flavor. In this recipe, the cheeks are braised slowly in a red wine tomato sauce and served atop pasta.
Braised Pork Cheek Ragu over Pasta
Pork cheeks have a wonderful flavor. In this recipe, the cheeks are braised slowly in a red wine tomato sauce and served atop pasta.
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 4 pork cheeks
- 1 yellow onion, (medium dice)
- 3 Tbsp salted butter
- 3 cloves garlic, (finely minced)
- 1 Tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- ½ cup red wine
- 32 oz tomato puree
- 3 tsp white granulated sugar
- 1 tsp sherry vinegar
- Salt & freshly-ground black pepper, ( to taste)
- 12 oz dried fettuccine pasta, (or any dried pasta of choice)
- ¼ cup freshly-grated parmesan cheese, (as garnish)
- 3 Tbsp fresh parsley, (roughly chopped, as garnish)
Instructions
- Heat 2 Tbsp vegetable oil in large, heavy-bottomed saute pan until the oil is smoking hot.
- Salt the pork cheeks.
- Very quickly sear one side of the pork cheeks, for roughly 30-45 seconds, and remove pork from pan and allow to rest.
- Add the onions to the pan where you seared the pork, lower the heat to medium-low and add the salted butter.
- Cook onions for roughly 20 minutes, until they are completely tender. Add the garlic cloves and tomato paste and continue to cook for an additional 15 minutes.
- Add the dried oregano and red wine, and cook until liquid has evaporated.
- Add the tomato puree, white granulated sugar, and pork cheek from earlier.
- Make sure the pork cheeks are submerged in sauce. If you need more liquid, add more tomato puree.
- Cook on low heat, with the sauce barely simmering, for 90-120 minutes, or until the pork cheek pieces are fork-tender and can be shredded easily.
- When the pork cheeks are tender, remove cheeks from sauce and shred the cheek meat with a fork.
- Return shredded cheek meat to sauce and stir to combine.
- Add 1 tsp sherry vinegar and season with salt & freshly-ground black pepper.
- Cook pasta in salty water and drain.
- Toss pasta with the pork cheek ragu sauce.
- Serve pasta hot, with freshly-grated parmesan cheese and chopped parsley on top.
Notes
Pork cheeks can be difficult to find. If you are having a hard time finding cheeks, try using cubed pork shoulder—the result will be equally delicious.