Monday is our Sunday. It often happens to be a lazy day hanging out with the kids. On a recent Monday we woke up to the rain and I had my mind set on making a comforting pasta dish for lunch. I had my coffee, went to the bookshelf for an idea that would land somewhere in between too simple and too time consuming. I decided on the Anise-Braised Pork from Flour and Water. The recipe calls for Campanelle, which has become a favorite noodle of mine, but I didn’t have access to it on Monday so I went with a store-bought fresh Tagliatelle. Jenny and I were both impressed with the subtle deliciousness when all the flavors of this dish come together. When I tried to feed it to Chloe for lunch the following day she said, “yucky.” Good thing her opinion doesn’t count yet. I ate her pasta and she enjoyed a perfectly seasoned avocado.
Jimmy
note: there is an amazon affiliate link
| Prep Time | 30 minutes |
| Cook Time | 2 hours |
| Passive Time | 2 hours |
| Servings |
people
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- 1 tablespoon finely ground fennel seeds
- 1 teaspoon finely ground star anise
- 3 tablespoons kosher salt
- 2 lbs pork shoulder, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 2 tablespoons fennel-anise salt
- 1 tablespoon fennel seeds, toasted
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 lb leeks, cut into 1/2 inch dice
- 1 fennel bulb, cut into 1/2 inch dice
- 7 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup white wine
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 3/4 lb chard or spinach, chopped
- 10 oz fresh tagliatelle (or other pasta)
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons creme fraiche
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese for finishing
- cheese cloth and kitchen string for fennel seed sachet
Ingredients
Fennel-Anise Salt
Braised Pork Shoulder
To Finish the Dish
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- grind the fennel seeds and star anise in a spice grinder. In a small bowl combine it with the salt.
- If possible, season the pork shoulder the night before with the fennel anise salt (note: I didn't do this and it was still delicious). Preheat the oven to 325. Toast the fennel seeds in a small pan for about 1 minute until they are fragrant. Wrap them in cheese cloth with the bay leaves and tie together with kitchen string to make a sachet. Heat a dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add olive oil and heat until just smoking. Sear the pork in batches until golden brown all over. Remove the pork to a plate. Decrease the heat to medium and add the leeks and fennel and cook until soft and translucent, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 2 more minutes. Add the white wine and reduce until the pan is almost dry. Add the chicken stock and the sachet and return the pork to the pan. Bring to a boil then lower to a simmer, cover, and place in the oven for about 2 hours. The pork should be fork tender when you are finished. Discard the sachet.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add enough salt so that it is almost as salty as the ocean. Remove about half of the pork-fennel sauce to a separate container to be stored or frozen for later use. Drop the pasta in the boiling water and stir well with tongs. Meanwhile, bring the pork-fennel sauce to a simmer and add the chard. When the pasta is ready, transfer it with tongs to the sauce. Add the butter and creme fraiche and mix aggressively. If the sauce seems too thick add a few ladles of pasta water. Finish by mixing in a squeeze of lemon juice. Transfer the pasta to plates or bowls and finish with freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.
I ended up with way more sauce than I needed so I took out about half of it before I added the pasta. It will freeze well.
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