Cinta senese pork meat ragout with penne
Cinta Senese is a special pork breed which is typical of Siena
(for 5 people)
700g of minced Cinta Senese pork meat
80g celery
80g onion
80g carrot
2 cloves of garlic
a bouquet garni with 2 sprigs of rosemary (10cm long), 10 sage leaves, 3 sprigs of thyme
2 bay leaves, medium-sized
7 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
250ml of dry red wine
300g organic peeled tomatoes
vegetal stock (4 liters of water, 100 grams of celery, carrot 100g, 100gr yellow onion, salt and a bunch of parsley)
salt
black pepper
400g coarse bronze drawn penne (pasta)
Finely chop : celery, onion, carrot and garlic and gently fry them in a pan with the extravirgin olive oil. Then add the minced Cinta Senese meat and cook over medium heat, occasionally gently stirring it, until it changes its color, then pour in the red wine, and cover the meat with some additional stock.
Let evaporate the wine, and when the smell of alcohol has gone, pour in the tomatoes (first you have to crush them using your hands), add the 2 fresh bay leaves and the bouquet garni. Salt lightly and grind in a little black pepper. Cook on low heat for about 3 hours.
Every now and then turn and add the vegetable stock. In the meantime, ‘listen’ to the scents that are coming out of your saucepan. Listen and smile, around you there is beauty and life.
As usual a ragout sauce reaches its best through a very long cooking time and the longer it cooks the better it is, but I would say that about 3 or 4 hours will be enough to get a great result. Boil the penne in boiling water as usual and, when they still need four minutes to be ready, drain them and add them to the sauce, so they can finish to cook inside your ragout with a small addition of stock.
Finish the cooking of your pasta and serve it hot and nicely sauteed to make sure that the sauce is not watery. Serve the penne and generous sprinkle of grated pecorino cheese, a grind of black pepper and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil on top of each dish to finish.