Slow-cooked Pork Ragù Pappardelle

Ingredients (one-course meal for 4 people)

• 1 kg of pork neck
• 5 carrots
• 1 onion
•  celery stick
• 3 juniper berries
• 1 bay leaf
• extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 litre of chicken stock (the simplest, most natural one you can find at the shops)
• a rosemary branch
• black pepper
• salt
• 500g pappardelle

Preparation

1. Seal the pork neck on high heat in a big pan greased with evo
2. Deglaze with a glass of white wine
3. Once the alcohol smell is gone, take the pork neck out, cut it into big cubes (say 2x2x2 cm) and then put everything in a pot, together with carrots and celery in chopped in big chunks and the whole onion with 3 cloves “nails” pinned into it
4. Add the stock and enough water to cover everything
5. Add juniper berries, 5 peppercorns, the bay leaf
6. Let it stew on boil gently for 3 hours—heat should be low enough to allow for gentle boiling
7. Once done, take the carrots out and smashed them
8. Put the pasta in the empty big pan you used before (big pot if you don’t have one) together with the meat and smashed carrots pouring 2/3 of the stew juices in
   1. add the rosemary
   2. salt now everything, gradually adjusting as it cooks, according to taste
   3. keep gently mixing, so that all the pasta cooks in the juices
   4. you will notice that the pork meat will break down nicely during this process
   5. add the remaining juices in a couple of rounds—the goal is to have the pasta wet enough to cook it while also getting a thick sauce (too much liquid would make it soupy)
9. Once the pasta is al dente (it should take between 5 and 8 minutes), add a bit of grated Parmigiano Reggiano (or Grana Padano) on top and mix. Add more on top after plating for looks