Braised Pork Jowls Allamatriciana Food

SUCCULENT BRAISED PORK

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Pat the pork dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper.
• In a large Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat, and working in batches brown the meat on all sides until a golden crust forms. Transfer the pork to a plate. To the pan add the onion, celery, and carrot and sweat until softened, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the garlic and sweat another 2 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for 3 minutes to cook off the raw flavor and caramelize it. Sprinkle with the flour and cook another 2 minutes to cook off its raw flavor. Whisk in the wine and reduce it by half. Return the pork to the Dutch oven, then stir in the beef stock, parsley stems, and bay leaves. Add the water if liquid does not come up to the top of the pork. Do not cover the pork with liquid. Cover the pan and place it in the oven to braise until the meat is fork tender, about 3 hours. Taste and season with more salt and pepper, if needed. Transfer to a serving platter and serve.

BUCATINI ALL'AMATRICIANA

Steps:

• Sauce, part 1: Dice the guanciale, then sauté in olive oil over medium heat, 6-8 minutes or until the guanciale is crisp.
• Pasta: Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta to the boiling water and cook until al dente, about 3 minutes less than what the box advises. (Chef Mantuano advises using bronze-cut pasta for his dishes. These noodles are made with bronze molds instead of Teflon, for a surface texture that's a bit rougher and more porous. This greatly helps the sauce to cling to each noodle.)
• Sauce, part 2: Add the tomatoes to the crispy guanciale and bring to a simmer. Using a wooden spoon, stir the sauce occasionally, breaking up the tomatoes as they are cooking, 5 minutes. Set aside.
• Assembly: Reserve ½ cup of the pasta water, then drain the bucatini. Return the pasta to the pot. Season the sauce with chili flakes and black pepper. Pour sauce and reserved pasta water into the pot and cook over low heat, tossing the pasta with the sauce to allow them to "marry," 2 minutes. The pasta should still be firm to the bite.
• Transfer the pasta to a platter. Grate Pecorino Romano directly on top, about ½ cup. Serve immediately, passing more cheese at the table.

PASTA AMATRICIANA

Steps:

• In a large (12-inch) skillet, heat olive oil over medium. Add guanciale and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 5 minutes. To the skillet, add tomatoes, black pepper and red-pepper flakes, and season with salt. Cook, stirring occasionally and smashing tomatoes with the back of a wooden spoon, until tomatoes have broken down and sauce is thickened, about 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in a large pot of salted water, cook pasta according to package directions until just shy of al dente. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta cooking water and drain.
• Add pasta, tomato sauce and ½ cup of pasta cooking water back to the large pasta pot and stir vigorously over medium-high heat until pasta is evenly coated in the sauce, about 1 minute. (Add more pasta water if sauce is dry.) Remove from heat, stir in the cheese and season to taste with salt.
• Divide pasta among bowls and garnish with more cheese and black pepper.