Cavatappi with Pork and Fennel Ragu
Cavatappi with Pork and Fennel Ragu is an authentic Italian pasta recipe I learned to make while working for La Cucina Italiana magazine.If you don’t have fresh herbs, use dried sage and rosemary and place in a teaball or cheesecloth, so it can be removed after cooking. Most Bolognese or ragu sauces require hours of cooking, but by using ground pork that has some fat in the grind, and flavorful small diced vegetables, you can make this delicious recipe in only 40 minutes. Cavatappi, which means corkscrew or Cellentani made by Barilla.. Cellentani is a corkscrew shaped noodle, but with a hollow center like penne.
Servings: 4
Calories: 809kcal
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 pound ground pork
- 1 sage sprig
- 1 rosemary sprig
- 1 small onion small dice
- 1 large carrot peeled and small dice
- 2 ribs celery small dice
- 2 Tablespoons flour
- 1 cup vegetable chicken or beef broth
- 1 medium fennel bulb small dice
- 1/2 cup dry red wine
- 1 salt and pepper to taste
- 1 pound Cavatappi pasta or bucatini or spaghetti or penne
- 1 cup grated parmesan or Grano Padano cheese
- 3 Tablespoons chopped parsley or fennel fronds
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. In a large fry pan or brazier, cook the ground pork in a bit of olive oil with a sprig of rosemary and sage on medium high heat, breaking up the meat as it cooks for a few minutes. Add small diced onion, carrot and celery and continue to cook, stirring occasionally. Cook pork mixture until vegetables begin to soften, about 5 minutes.
- Sprinkle flour over the ragu mixture and stir to combine. It’s important that the flour gets coated by the oil in the mixture. Add the broth, wine and finely chopped fennel. Reduce heat to low and gently simmer the ragu for about 20 minutes or more. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
- In the last 10 minutes of simmering, cook the Cavatappi pasta until al dente, then drain.
- Add the Cavatappi pasta to the ragu. Toss to combine, marry the two together with the heat on for a couple minutes, then add half of the parmesan cheese and toss again. Remove from the heat. Add more parmesan cheese if desired and sprinkle with parsley and/or the fennel fronds.
- Serve the Cavatappi with Pork and Fennel Ragu on individual plates and garnish with more parmesan and parsley and/or the fennel fronds. Your guests will smile when they enjoy this beautiful and enticing meal.
- ENJOY THIS RECIPE FROM FreshFoodinaFlash.com
Nutrition
Calories: 809kcal