Apple-Pork Ragu with Papardelle (GK)

• 1 teaspoon olived oil
• 12 ounces ground pork
• 2 slices thick-cut bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 2 Honeycrisp apples, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch slices [I subbed some Pink Ladies]
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• One 15-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes, smashed by hand or chopped
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 pound dried papardelle [I used a box of ziti I had since in the forward to the recipe Stephanie Izard says that it's fine to use a pasta that might catch some bits of pork or apple]
• 2 tablespoons brined capers
• 2 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil
• Coarse salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

Mise en place.

Browning the ground pork though admittedly there was very little browning well after the suggested five minutes.  I was afraid of drying the ground meat up.  This ragu isn't really a seriously braised or stewed affair.

Browning the bacon.  Still working off the stuff I made in september.

Add onions and garlic and sweat them until onions are translucent.  Um, two minutes ain't going to do it, but as it was with the pork, it was getting there.

Add the apples and wine.  Reduce the wine by 3/4's.

Add tomatoes, broth, and browned pork and simmer, partially covered for fifteen minutes.

The dish struck me as quite sweet when I had it right after completing the dish, but it mellowed out nicely after refrigeration.  The flavors of the dish are not complicated, but they were fine enough here.  I'm surprised Stephanie Izard didn't throw some fish sauce in here as well when it dominates the rest of her cookbook.

Kidney Beans with Apples and Sherry (HCEV)

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or butter, plus a little more for garnish (optional)
• 2 shallots, sliced, or 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups chopped or sliced Golden Delicious or Granny Smith apples
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves (Yet another example of me leaving things off the grocery list for some reason.  Perhaps I didn't think the dish through I realize it required fresh herbs.  Just bought some thyme, rosemary and parsley plants today, and hopefully I don't kill them.)
• 3 cups cooked or canned kidney beans, drained but still moist
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Mise en place.


Softening the shallots and apples.


Bittman suggests that this is a complete meal with boiled cabbage and multigrain bread.  The bread is a demi-ciabbatta from Stop and Shop.  Not multi-grain.
I don't eat an awful lot of sandwiches and buying artisanal loaves of bread when cooking for one doesn't make an awful lot of sense.  This is probably why it will take me longer to get around to baking bread for the first time than say making pasta and bacon for the first time.