In our team's recent travels to the north of Italy, we ordered a dish similar to this one at a cozy trattoria: pappardelle with a very simple, yet completely delicious pork ragu sans tomato. We passed the plate around the table over and over, completely in love with it - and it went right on the list for recipes to develop as soon as we got home!
The meat is the star of this Northern Italian white ragu. Don’t skimp on scraping up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan - that is how the flavor is built! For as hearty as this dish sounds, it is light, velvety and packed full of delicate flavors.
Servings
6
Prep Time
15 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Ingredients
-
2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 pound ground pork
- 1 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
- 1 stalk celery, finely chopped
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 carrot, peeled and finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
2 sprigs sage, fresh or dried
-
1/2 teaspoon Calabrian chili paste
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1 cup low sodium chicken broth
-
1 pound pappardelle pasta
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 cups freshly grated parmesan cheese, plus more to serve
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Season generously with salt.
- Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the oil to the pan and heat another 30 seconds. Add the pork to the hot oil and season with 1 teaspoon salt. Cook the pork, breaking it apart with the back of a spoon until the pork is almost entirely cooked, about 4 minutes. Add the celery, onion, carrot, garlic, sage and chili paste and season with another 1/4 teaspoon salt. Cook until the pork is well browned, and the vegetables are soft, about 8 minutes. Deglaze the pan with the wine and use the spoon to scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Allow the wine to reduce entirely before adding the chicken broth. Reduce the heat to medium and allow the mixture to reduce by half, about 5 minutes.
- Add the pasta to the water and cook until just al dente, 7 to 8 minutes. Using tongs, remove the pasta from the water directly to the skillet. Sprinkle the parmesan cheese on the bare pasta and toss to coat. Add the butter along with 1/2 cup of pasta water and toss well until the sauce clings lightly to the pasta. Serve with additional parmesan if desired
Nutrition
Nutrition
- Nutrition Serving Size
- 6
- per serving
- Calories
- 762
- Carbs
- 64 grams
- Protein
- 38 grams
- Fat
- 37 grams
- Saturated Fat
- 16 grams
- Cholestrol
- 95 milligrams
- Sodium
- 701 milligrams
- Fiber
- 4 grams
- Sugar
- 4 grams
Let’s Cook
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Crushed Calabrian Chili Paste
- Discount Price Member
- $10.00
- Regular Price / Regular
- $10.50
- Unit Price
- /per
Organic Pappardelle Pasta
- Discount Price Member
- $10.00
- Regular Price / Regular
- $11.00
- Unit Price
- /per
Crushed Calabrian Chili Paste
- Discount Price Member
- $10.00
- Regular Price / Regular
- $10.50
- Unit Price
- /per
Organic Pappardelle Pasta
- Discount Price Member
- $10.00
- Regular Price / Regular
- $11.00
- Unit Price
- /per
8 comments
I’m also wondering about the amount of sage fresh or dried. Also, is the Parmesan finely grated or coarsely grated.
Ciao Janet! 🌿 The recipe calls for 2 sprigs of sage, which usually translates to about 6-8 fresh leaves. If you’re using dried sage, you can sub with about 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon. As for the Parmesan, finely grated is best—it melts beautifully into the sauce & gives that perfect touch of savory flavor. Hope this helps, & happy cooking! 🍷🧀
Beautiful
This pork ragu is absolutely delicious!! Made exactly as written and it was perfection.
Hi @Colin! This recipe can be reduced. We suggest reducing each portion by 1/2. Hope this helps.
This looks great. Can it be reduced to 1 or 2 servings?
Can this recipe be reduced to 1 or 2 servings?
I was wondering how much is 2 sprigs of sage? I think of sage as leaves rather than a sprigs. Can you give me a measurement, such as 1 tsp. of chopped sage.