Since I’ve been so enthusigasmic about my new cazuela de barro, I’ve been on the lookout for new recipes to try. When I was in San Sebastián I bought myself Las Mejores Recetas De Mi Madre by Joan Roca. Or, The Best Recipes Of My Mother as the English title would be if there was one. Joan Roca is the head chef at the three Michelin star restaurant El Celler de Can Roca in Girona, Catalonia. He is quite famous in Spain and has a new book out called Cocina con Joan Roca.
The title of the recipe loosely translates to Casserole style spaghetti noodles with pork ribs and mini pork sausages. In Spain it’s quite common to cook with individual ribs chopped into 1-2″ chunks. The butcher prepares them this way when you buy them. If I wasn’t able to get ribs prepared like this, I probably would’ve substituted pork belly. Salchichas are small sausages about the size of a large man’s finger. You can substitute any good quality pork sausage, but if you buy large sausages, chop them into chunks and adjust cooking times accordingly. Fideos are basically 1″ segments of spaghetti. Substitute any small form of pasta if you can’t find them. This recipe also calls for vino rancio which I’ve referred to as “old wine”. It is a special type of wine from Catalonia which has been left out to age in the sun. I have no idea what it tastes like but I’m guessing it’s acidic so I substituted the juice of half a lemon. Don’t forget, when cooking from a cazuela, always bring it up to temperature slowly. The recipe says to keep simmering for about 10 minutes once the ribs have been reintroduced to soften them. I did this, but they were still quite tough. Next time I cook this, I will extend this cooking time to try and soften the meat more.
Here’s the recipe to serve 1 person:
In a cazuela de barro with extra virgin olive oil: brown 1 pork rib cut into 1-2″ chunks, remove. Brown 3 small sausages, remove. Add more olive oil if necessary, fry 1 diced onion ~ soft & golden, add one grated tomato (halve the tomato, grate the flesh and seeds, discard the skin), and cook over low heat ≈ 5-10mins. Add a dash of old wine, continue cooking until it has reduced to the consistency of jam. Return the ribs to the cazuela, add ≈ 1/2 a cup of stock, continue cooking ≈ 10mins to soften the rib meat. Return the sausages, add pasta to fill in the gaps between the chunks of meat. Cook ~ pasta is almost done (you may need to add more stock if it’s looking dry). Off heat, stir through 1 small clove of garlic and 2 or 3 sprigs of parsley (both finely chopped), then leave to rest a few minutes. Serve in the cazuela, along with a nice salad.
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