Slow Cooked Pork Ragu with Fennel

Ingredients

• 1 kg pork shoulder, bone out, cut into large 6cm chunks
• 2 tsp fennel seeds, lightly crushed
• 1 tsp dried chilli flakes
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 100 ml chicken stock
• 1 fennel bulb, trimmed and thinly sliced, fronds reserved
• 1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 150 ml dry white wine
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• pappardelle or rigatoni, to serve
• parmesan, finely grated, to serve
• Crusty ciabatta, to serve
• Fresh basil, to serve
• crisp green salad, to serve

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 150°C/130°C fan. Pat the pork chunks dry — water means steam, and steam means no browning — and season generously all over with salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in a large cast-iron casserole over a high heat until it shimmers.
2. Sear the pork in two batches, 3–4 minutes per side, until deeply golden and crusted. Don't crowd the pan — all at once and the meat steams in its own juices instead of building that mahogany crust. Lift out and set aside.
3. Drop the heat to medium. Add the onion, sliced fennel and grated carrot to the same pot and cook gently for 10 minutes, stirring now and then, until very soft and sweet with no colour. The fond from the pork will start lifting into the vegetables — that's flavour, not mess.
4. Stir in the garlic, crushed fennel seeds and chilli flakes. Cook for just 30–60 seconds until fragrant — long enough to bloom the spices so they taste of themselves rather than dusty, but watch the garlic. Burnt garlic turns the whole ragu bitter.
5. Stir in the tomato purée and cook for a full minute until it darkens to brick-red, then pour in the white wine. Let it bubble and reduce by half, scraping the base of the pan hard to lift every sticky bit — that's where the depth lives.
6. Tip in the chopped tomatoes, chicken stock, red lentils and sugar. The stock and wine are your break-down liquid here — without them the tinned tomatoes just taste of heated tin. Stir, then return the pork and any resting juices. The pork doesn't need to be submerged; it will braise and steam together.
7. Bring to a gentle simmer, cover tightly and slide into the oven for 2 hours 30 minutes to 3 hours, turning the pork halfway, until the meat falls apart at the press of a spoon.
8. Lift the lid — the sauce should be deep brick-red and glossy. Shred the pork directly in the pot with two forks, pulling it into rough strands and stirring it through. If the ragu looks thin, bubble it on the hob uncovered for 10 minutes; if too thick, loosen with a splash of stock. Taste, season, taste again — adjust the salt now, not at the table.
9. Meanwhile, salt the pasta water generously — it should taste like the sea. This is your only chance to season the pasta itself. Cook the pappardelle until just shy of al dente.
10. Toss the drained pasta through the ragu in the pot so every ribbon catches the sauce. Plate up, scatter over the reserved fennel fronds and a blizzard of grated parmesan, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, tear over a few basil leaves, and serve with the crisp green salad alongside.