Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking - Marcella Hazan [201]
3. Add the onion, and cook the onion, stirring, until it becomes colored a deep gold, then return the meat to the pan. Add the wine and vinegar and let them simmer briskly for about 30 seconds, then put in the cut-up mushrooms, their filtered liquid, the chopped anchovies, the marjoram, the bay leaves, and the crushed juniper berries. Turn the heat down to cook at a very slow simmer, and turn over all the ingredients in the pan. Add a few pinches of salt and several grindings of pepper, turn the ingredients over once again, and cover the pan tightly.
4. Cook for 1½ to 2 hours, until the meat feels tender when prodded with a fork. When it is done, transfer it with a slotted spoon to a warm serving platter. If the juices in the pan are thin and runny, raise the heat to high and reduce them. If the pork has shed a lot of fat in the pan, tip it and spoon most of it off, without discarding any of the good pan juices. Pour the remaining contents of the pan over the pork and serve at once.
Ahead-of-time note The dish can be completed 2 or 3 days in advance, but do not reduce the juices or discard any fat until after you have gently, but thoroughly reheated the stew.
Spareribs Pan-Roasted with Sage and White Wine, Treviso Style
IN WHAT WERE one time the poor regions of northern Italy, the eastern Veneto and Friuli, satisfaction and nourishment had to be found in the least expensive cuts of meat. No one in the Veneto goes hungry any longer, but the flavor of Treviso’s ribs slowly pan-roasted with sage and white wine is as deeply gratifying now as it was then. Serve them with their pan juices, over Italian mashed potatoes, or hot, soft Polenta.
For 4 servings
A 3-pound rack of spareribs, divided into single ribs
¼ cup vegetable oil
3 garlic cloves, peeled and cut into very thin slices
2 tablespoons fresh sage leaves OR 2 teaspoons whole dried ones, chopped
1 cup dry white wine
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
1. Choose a saute pan that can subsequently accommodate all the ribs without crowding them. Put in the oil and turn on the heat to medium high. When the oil is hot, put in the ribs, and turn them as they cook to brown them deeply all over.
2. Add the garlic and sage. Cook the garlic, stirring, until it becomes colored a very pale blond, then add the wine. After the wine has simmered briskly for 15 to 20 seconds, adjust heat to cook at a very slow simmer, add salt and pepper, and cover the pan, putting the lid on slightly ajar. Cook for about 40 minutes, turning the ribs occasionally, until their fleshiest part feels very tender when prodded with a fork and comes easily away from the bone. From time to time, as the liquid in the pan becomes insufficient, you will need to add 2 to 3 tablespoons of water to keep the ribs from drying.
3. Transfer the ribs to a warm serving platter, using a slotted spoon or spatula. Tip the pan and spoon off about one-third of the liquefied pork fat. Leave more fat than you usually would when degreasing a pan because you need it to season the recommended accompanying mashed potatoes or polenta. Add ½ cup water, turn up the heat to high, and while the water boils away, use a wooden spoon to scrape loose cooking residues from the bottom and sides of the pan. Pour the resulting dark, dense juices over the ribs and serve at once.
Spareribs with Tomatoes and Vegetables for Polenta
THESE SPARERIBS would certainly be most enjoyable even without polenta, with mashed potatoes say, but the juices they produce are exactly of the kind that yearn for a plump dollop of soft, hot polenta to sink into.
For 6 servings, if generously accompanied by polenta
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
⅔ cup chopped