Pork Ragù over Creamy Polenta
This dish screams comfort food. It is rich, flavorful and just downright satisfying. It is the perfect meal to coo on a cold winters day where you just don’t feel like leaving the house.
This will make 4 large servings.
3 LB pork roast (you can use a bigger one & just freeze the leftovers)
Salt & Pepper
Oil (avocado, olive or canola)
1 large onion, thinly sliced
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1/2 cup red wine
28 oz crushed tomatoes
1 tsp dried thyme
2 bay leaves
1 cup dried polenta
3 cups chicken or beef stock
3 cups baby spinach, thinly sliced
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Rub the pork roast with oil and heavily salt & pepper. Place in a shallow baking pan and cook for 1.5 hours uncovered. This is based on a 3 LB roast, if you’re cooking a bigger one you’ll need to adjust your cook time. Roast 45 minutes per pound (leaving the final hour of cooking to include other ingredients). In a small bowl, mix the onion, garlic, tomato paste, red wine, crushed tomatoes, thyme and bay leaves. Remove roast from oven and pour mixture around the outside of the roast. Return to the oven for 1 hour.
When the roast has twenty minutes of cooking time remaining you’ll prepare the polenta. In a large saucepan bring the chicken or beef stock to a boil, whisk in the dried polenta, stirring constantly. Once it comes back up to a boil, reduce the heat to low. Stir occasionally, making sure to scrape the bottom of the saucepan. You can add cheese during the last minutes of cooking your polenta to make it even creamier.
Once the roast has finished cooking, remove it from the oven and place just the roast on a large cutting board. Let it cool just enough that you can safely handle it. Remove the bay leaves from the mixture and add in the spinach. Shred the meat with a fork, putting it back in the roasting pan with the tomato mixture. Mix well and add additional sat & pepper if needed. Scoop the polenta into individual bowls then cover with a hearty portion of the pork. Enjoy!