An easy bolognese recipe made from a slow-cooked roast pork shoulder that stays a firm favourite for the entire family!
Pork shoulder bolognese
Ingredients
- 125 ml olive oil
- 1.5 kg pork shoulder, skin removed
- 500 g bacon bits
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 carrot, peeled and chopped
- 8 whole frozen and thawed plum tomatoes
- 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 250 ml quality red wine
- 60 ml tomato paste
- 15 ml sugar
- 250 ml stock
- 4 sprigs thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 125 ml cream (optional)
- salt and pepper to taste
- Oven temperature: 160ºC
Instructions
Heat the oil and fry the pork until golden-brown all over. This step is optional but improves the flavour.
Remove the pork from the pan and fry the bacon in the same oil until browned.
Stir in the onion and carrot and fry until glossy.
Preheat the oven.
Cut a cross in the tomatoes and peel them.
Stir in the wine and cook for 5 minutes.
Put the pork back into the pan, add the tomato paste, sugar, stock, thyme and bay leaves, then cover and bake in the oven for about 3 hours.
Pour the sauce into a small saucepan and let the meat rest for about 15 minutes. Reduce the sauce (with or without the cream) until thick.
Pull the meat with two forks and remove the bone.
Mix the meat through the sauce, season and serve with Parmesan and fresh basil over pasta or use as the meat layer in lasagne, or as a topping for a sumptuous baked potato.
Notes
A large cut of meat on the bone needs longer in the oven. If time is short, ask your butcher to debone it and cut the meat into smaller pieces before you brown it; then follow the recipe as above and reduce the cooking time by 1 hour.
