Italian Pork

Shambles six hour Italian style pork

A couple of ounces of olive oil
One oz margarine
2 ounces of butter
One carrot diced small
One onion diced small
One stick of celery diced small
two bay leaves
Two cloves of garlic, crushed
One pepperoni medium diced

1 cup of red wine
1 kg boned leg of pork (fat removed, we turn the fat into pork crackling)
400 g of concentrated tomato purée (yes 400 g trust me on this one)
1 pint of chicken stock
one sprig of rosemary and one sprig of thyme

Add the first nine items to a large heavy-based pan with a lid, and simmer slowly until soft now add the pork cook on a very low heat for an hour and a half to two hours, turning the meat occasionally. Leaving the lid on
Remove the pork to a side plate

You may find quite a bit of liquid in the pot at this time; reduce, until most of the liquid has disappeared. Add the wine and reduce by half. Now add the tomato purée. Keep stirring in cooking the purée mixture until the colour turns from red to brown (this can take up to about half an hour, boring, but it's essential for the final flavour)

Add the chicken stock and return the meat to the pot on the lowest heat possible with a lid on for four hours.
Now remove the meat, and reduce until you have a thick sauce. Season with salt and pepper if necessary (depending on how salty pepperoni is)
Slice the pork and serve with the sauce.

(Note) When the sauce has been reduced and the gas turned off, you will find oil and butter residue on the top of the sauce.
Skim this of into a pot, and refrigerate. I use it, added to the fat on oven roasted potatoes, although it can be added to almost anything that you want to add flavour to.

We always make sure that we have plenty of the sauce left, it is great with pasta, in fact we sometimes make this just for the pasta sauce. The pork will slice and freeze for sandwiches at a later date, or served cold with salad (I will often add to the sauce some crispy bacon and mushrooms, to serve with the pasta).