Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking - Marcella Hazan [200]
2. Add salt, several grindings of pepper, and the cut-up tomatoes with their juice. Adjust heat to cook at a slow simmer, and cover the pan, setting the lid on slightly ajar. Cook for about 1 hour, until the meat feels tender when prodded with a fork. Turn the chops from time to time while they are cooking.
3. By the time the pork is done, the sauce in the pan should have become rather dense. If it is too runny, transfer the chops to a warm serving platter, and reduce the pan juices over high heat for a few moments. Tip the pan and spoon off most of the fat. Pour the contents of the pan over the chops and serve at once.
Braised Pork Chops with Two Wines
THE TWO WINES required here are Marsala and a young red, a mixture that combines the aromatic intensity of the first with the vivacious sharpness of the latter. For the red wine, your preference should go to a Piedmontese Barbera or a Valpolicella or any young red from Central Italy, such as a non-riserva Chianti. It would be appropriate to serve the same wine with the chops.
For 4 servings
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 pork loin chops, preferably bottom loin, ¾ inch thick
Flour, spread on a plate
1 teaspoon garlic chopped fine
1 tablespoon tomato paste, dissolved in a mixture of ½ cup dry Marsala and ½ cup dry young red wine (see remarks above)
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
¼ teaspoon fennel seeds
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1. Choose a saute pan that can later contain all the chops without overlapping. Put in the oil, and turn on the heat to medium. When the oil becomes hot, turn the chops on both sides in the flour, shake off excess flour, and slip them into the pan. Cook the chops to a rich brown on both sides, about 1½ to 2 minutes per side.
2. Add the chopped garlic, stirring it into the oil at the bottom of the pan. When the garlic becomes colored a pale gold, add the mixture of the two wines and tomato paste. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper, and add the fennel seeds. When the wine has simmered briskly for about 20 seconds, turn the heat down to cook at a slow simmer, and cover the pan, setting the lid on slightly ajar.
3. Cook for about 1 hour, until the meat feels tender when prodded with a fork. Turn the chops from time to time while they are cooking. When they are done, add the parsley, turn the chops over 2 or 3 times, then transfer them to a warm serving platter, using a slotted spoon or spatula.
4. Tip the pan and spoon off all but a small amount of fat. Add ½ cup water, turn the heat up to high, and while the water boils away, scrape loose cooking residues from the bottom and sides of the pan, using a wooden spoon. When the pan juices become dense, pour them over the chops and serve at once.
Stewed Pork with Porcini Mushrooms and Juniper
THE CHORUS of fragrances from the forest and the herb garden—porcini mushrooms, juniper berries, marjoram, bay—that accompany this stew echoes the flavors that one associates with furred game. And like game, the dish should go to the table in the company of steaming, soft Polenta. The most suitable cut of pork for this recipe is the shoulder, sometimes known as Boston-style shoulder.
For 4 servings
20 juniper berries
1½ pounds boned pork shoulder, cut into pieces about 1 inch thick and 2 inches wide
⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped onion
½ cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons good red wine vinegar
A small packet OR 1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms, reconstituted and cut up
The filtered water from the mushroom soak, see instructions
3 flat anchovy fillets (preferably the ones prepared at home), chopped to a pulp
½ teaspoon fresh marjoram OR ¼ teaspoon dried
2 bay leaves, chopped if fresh, crumbled fine if dried
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
1. Wrap the juniper berries in a towel and crush them lightly using a mallet, a meat pounder, or even a hammer. Unwrap them and set aside.
2. Choose a saute pan that can later contain the