This recipe for Apple Pork Ragu is from one of the relative handful of game-changing American woman chefs, rated by an influential culinary magazine, Stephanie Izard.
Originally from Chicago, Izard grew up in Connecticut and studied sociology at the University of Michigan before realising her life's dream and attending a Cordon Bleu cooking school. Upon graduation as a chef, she worked in Chicago for four years where she briefly opened her own restaurant - named in the Top Ten - before competing in season 4 of America's Top Chef TV series, which she won. Izard remains the only woman to have won the show and she has also become of its most successful participants.
Izard now runs a restaurant called Girl and the Goat in Chicago which she describes as "serving fun foods, making craft beer and wine in a rustic and bad ass environment". She has a new book out called Girl in the Kitchen. Her sister establishment, Little Goat, opened earlier this year and Stephanie was awarded the James Beard award for Best Chef in the Great Lakes region of the US in May.
Ingredients
1 teaspoon olive oil
350g pork
2 slices of thick cut bacon cut into 1 centimetre pieces
½ small onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 apples, peeled and cut into ½ centimetre slices
1 can organic whole peeled tomatoes, crushed
½ cup dry white wine
1 cup chicken stock
2 tablespoons of capers
2 tablespoons of thinly sliced basil
salt
freshly ground black pepper
Method
Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the pork and cook for 5-7 minutes. As the pork browns, break it into smaller pieces with a spoon. Set aside.
In a large pot over medium heat, lightly brown the bacon pieces. Add the onions and garlic and sweat them for about 2 minutes. Add the apples and wine and simmer until wine is reduced by three-quarters.
Add the tomatoes, chicken stock and the browned pork and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, partially covered, for 15 minutes or until the sauce has thickened.
Add capers and basil just before serving. Season the ragu with salt and pepper to taste.
Serve over pasta.
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We have a copy of Stephanie Izard's book Girl in the Kitchen to give away. Just let us know in 25 words or less what you enjoy or don't enjoy about being a girl in the ktichen!
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