Braised Pork Shoulder

I got this recipe from the Food Network website, but it's reliable and delicious. I made it for New Year's at my Grandmother's house. She really went all out with baking cookies and a big ham for Xmas dinner so it was the least I could do to make this for dinner. I have used the recipe in the past and it always comes out nicely. We used a very lean loin cut at her house which came out delicious but I'm using the boneless pork shoulder in these photos. Either way is good, I just got the shoulder on sale.

The only thing I would do differently: add more carrots, larger chunks. I also added these tiny fingerling potatoes. Any root vegetable becomes delicious when braised with pork but it also becomes 50% original size. I have a parsley plant. Instead of using up a bunch of leaves just to get the stems I cut this huge stalk that sprang up in the middle and chucked it in. I think the stems could be omitted if you don't happen to have them.

Ingredients:
2 pounds pork shoulder, cut into 6 large chunks
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 carrot, chopped (I would use 3 large carrots or even a bag of baby carrots)
1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup red wine
1 1/2 cups beef stock or broth
1 bunch parsley stems, tied with string (Ok to omit unless you happen to have it)
2 bay leaves
1 cup water

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

2. Pat the pork dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper.

3. 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.




4. To the pan add the onion, celery, and carrot and sweat until softened, 5 to 7 minutes.



5. Add the garlic and sweat another 2 minutes.

6. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for 3 minutes to cook off the raw flavor and caramelize it.

7. Sprinkle with the flour and cook another 2 minutes to cook off its raw flavor.


8. Whisk in the wine and reduce it by half.

9. 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.

10. Cover the pan and place it in the oven to braise until the meat is fork tender, about 3 hours.


11. Taste and season with more salt and pepper, if needed. Transfer to a serving platter and serve.