The Family That Braises Together.....

Okay, so even for a pun that's a stretch.

After two days of spectacular Fall weather while on the road, yesterday chimed in with some seriously dreary Fall weather. Low, dark clouds with warm, humid air in Novemeber can mean one of two things. Rain, or thunderstorms with tornadoes.

Believe me, the worst Thanksgiving I ever went through weather wise was when I was living in Germantown, TN in 1994. It was kind of a day like yesterday, but with disastrous results for families nearby.

Fortunately, yesterday's weather eased into rain showers late in the day.

I'm not here to talk about the weather or what's slowly becoming ancient history.

I'm here to talk about food.

Good food.

Winter food.

"Make ya hungry" food.

Braised Pork In Tomatoes With Garlic, Onion, and Peppers

- 3 pounds pork loin cut into cubes
- 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
- 12 oz chicken stock
- 1 cup good quality dry white wine (dry vermouth or pinot grigio work well)
- 2 large yellow onions, halved and sliced
- 2 large (or 3 medium) bell peppers, seeded and sliced
- 8 toes peeled garlic chopped
- 1 tbspn Italian seaoning
- salt
- pepper

Sautee the onions and garlic until the onions are translucent in olive oil. Remove from pan and set aside.

Increase temperature to medium high. Add the sliced bell peppers and cook until they have browned around the edges a bit. Remove from pan and set aside.

Brown the pork in two or three batches.

Why two or three batches?

Well, you could do it in one big batch, but you'll get that viscous brown foam from not having enough pan space to burn off the liquid from the meat.

I know of no recipe that calls for meat being cooked so as to take advantage of "viscous brown foam".

Do it in two or three batches, capiche?

Add the onion/garlic back to the pan with the meat.

Add the wine and chicken stock. Make sure you scrape the bottom of the pan and get all the brown pieces of the bottom of the pan. Add the tomatoes and stir. Add Italian seasoning, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper. Stir, reduce heat to medium low, and cover.

Simmer for one hour, covered.

After one hour, remove lid. Simmer for 30 minutes uncovered.

This allows the sauce to thicken. Like your sauce thin, you can always go with less time. Like it thick....well, you get it.

When it reaches your desired thickness, stir in the peppers. Heat for five to ten minutes. Adjust salt/pepper to taste. Serve over linguine, ziti, or rotini.

The beauty of this style cooking is that once it gets going, there's little else to do to it. Maybe an occasional stir or a dip of crusty bread.

This recipe is also versatile. You can substitute chicken breast, beef, veal, or Italian sausages.

It's also a nice way to pass a Sunday afternoon.

Today's plan? Pretty much up in the air. I'm still recovering from the road trip.

Looks like some "Beef Roast Therapy" is in order.

Until the next time, all y'all take care of yourselves.

Air Traffic Mike, ret.