Can you spare 4 hours?

Since buying our house last year there are a couple of truths as to how my weekend goes:

1. Something always breaks
2. There is always a trip to Home Depot
3. Shawn is usually bleeding from some home repair/vehicle repair mishap
4. I never get to go out and have fun anymore so I have all the time in the world to make lengthy and involved recipes

This weekend was no different.

1. I broke a chunk off the moulding by the front door (shhh don't tell Shawn..he hasn't noticed)
2. We're on our way to Home Depot in 20 minutes.
3. Shawn's thumb is mangled
4. And I made a 4 hour pork sugo for supper

I suppose it's nice knowing that some things never change ;)

Sugo is Italian for sauce or gravy and this recipe from October's edition of Food and Wine magazine got great reviews. It takes about 4 hours to make and let me tell you, what a great sauce recipe. It's a light tasting sauce that has great flavour. It must be good because the neighbor's daughter had her first helping finished almost before the wine was poured for the adults!

First brown your pork. The recipe calls for a 3 pound pork shoulder, but I used a pork loin (end cut) instead).

Add your vegetables to the meat to soften.

Go get some wine. We bought this stuff in anticipation of my in-laws coming at Christmas. My father-in-law can't taste the difference between cheap wine and good wine so we figured stocking up on the $7 bottles was a good idea. They ended up not coming out, so I have all this wine downstairs that neither of us care for. Perfect cooking wine!

Add your tomatoes to the pot, then the wine, thyme and 5 cups of chicken stock/broth.

And here is the most amazing part of the dish and one I wish I'd thought of myself! To shred the cooked meat, remove it from the pot with a slotted spoon and run it through the food processor for 4 to 5 pulses. I hate shredding meat (pulled pork, shredded chicken etc) and tend to avoid recipes that call for it. Never again as the food processor made quick work of a boring task.

Season with oregano and salt and pepper.

Mix with your cooked pasta and then put into a baking dish with lots of parmesan cheese on top.

Bake for 30 minutes and serve with an Amarone or Valpolicella Ripasso wine.

You can find the recipe HERE.