Nonna’s Pork Neck Sugo

​Straight from Nonna’s kitchen to yours, this aromatic, meaty Pork Neck Sugo pasta sauce is perfect with spaghetti, fettucini or penne. Serve this family favourite pasta sauce with freshly grated Parmigiano and watch them race back for seconds.

Nonna style Pork Neck Sugo

With a large extended family to feed, Nonna Mafalda knows just how to draw them regularly around her oversized dining table with delicious Italian food straight from her Abruzzo homeland. Her recipes have been passed down through the family and honed with constant preparation. Aromas from her kitchen have been known to drive hungry people just a little bit crazy!

Nonna Mafalda was born in Italy’s Abruzzesi region.

The pork neck bones flavour the sauce beautifully and is the family’s favourite version. If you can’t get neck bones, then substitute the meat for the usual pork ribs. (Tip: pork neck bones look similar to rib bones, but you’ll need to ask your local artisan butcher to cut the neck section into 10cm strips. Chinese butchers often retail these bones.)

Mafalda draws her ingredients from a well-stocked cupboard prepared from produce at the peak of the season. However, you can get close to the flavour using store-bought ingredients.

What I especially like about this meat-infused sauce is that it is light on onions and there is no garlic, just lots of intense flavour.

​There is always a crowd around Nonna Mafalda’s table.

Pork Neck Sugo

Serves six people.

Find a printable recipe card at the end.

Preparation time: 10 minutes plus an additional 30 minutes for tomatoes

Cooking time: 35 minutes and 1.5 to 2 hours to simmer sauce

Ingredients

• ½ cup of extra virgin olive oil (enough to coat the pan with about 3mm of oil).
• 500g pork neck rib bone cut into 10cm pieces. Alternately, substitute for pork belly ribs
• 1 small onion, finely diced
• 1 small carrot, finely diced
• 1 celery stick (15cm), finely diced
• 16 ripe tomatoes. Alternately, use 1 can chopped tomatoes and 1 can pureed tomatoes (Tip: leave store bought tomatoes on the kitchen bench and at room temperature for 2 – 3 days to ripen them sufficiently. Mafalda uses tomatoes grown in her own backyard.)
• 1-litre Passata sauce, homemade or store-bought
• ½ teaspoon bicarbonate soda
• Salt
• 500 gm pasta. Mafalda usually makes her own but recommends the following store brands in the following order: Garofalo (CostCo), Divella (Cocos), De Cecco (IGA) and Barilla (all major supermarkets).
• Grana Padano – finely grated for serving

Both chopped and blended tomatoes are used in the recipe.

Method

1. Blanch the 16 tomatoes in boiling water, skin and remove seeds. Dice eight tomatoes into 1cm squares and place in a container. Puree the remaining eight tomatoes and place in a separate container. (Tip: the diced tomato will add texture and density to the sauce.)

2. Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan and add the pork neck (or pork belly) and cook over high heat until the meat is slightly brown. Lower to medium heat and continue to cook – stirring occasionally – until the meat is well browned. Don’t worry if tiny specks of meat stick to the base of the pan as this helps with the next step: flavouring the stock.

Finely diced onion, carrot and celery are key ingredients.

3. Remove the bones from the pan, and at medium heat, add the finely diced onion, carrot and celery in the same oil. Stir occasionally and cook until brown. Cover with a lid for another two or three minutes until the vegetables are completely soft.

4. Add the diced tomato and the pureed tomato and continue to cook (stirring occasionally) until the diced tomato has broken down and stock is reduced and until all liquid from the tomato needs is fully absorbed. This is the beginning of your Sugo.

5. Pour the bottle of Passata into the saucepan. Then add approximately 100ml water to the empty Passata bottle and give it a gentle shake, mixing the water with the remnants of the Passata. Add ½ teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda into the Passata bottle and pour the soda solution into the saucepan. The Sugo will gently bubble and froth. (Tip: this is an important step for Abruzzesi cooks as Mafalda says the bicarbonate of soda will reduce the acidity of the tomatoes. However, you may find this method hotly contested by your Sicilian friends who seem to prefer adding sugar to the Sugo.)

6. Bring the Sugo back to the boil. Then return the ribs to the pan.

7. Simmer on a medium-low heat for at least 60-90 minutes until the Sugo thickens into rich red colour.

​To serve

Cook 500 gm pasta in salted boiling water (Mafalda uses 2 tsp of salt) until al dente (just cooked – the time depends on the pasta type).

​Nonna Mafalda often makes her own pasta.

Remove the pasta with a slotted spoon and retain the water. (Tip: A few tablespoons of the water should be used to moisten leftovers before refrigerating and storing them.)

Using a slotted spoon, remove the bones from the Sugo and place these in a separate serving bowl. Mix the Sugo into the pasta and serve in a covered serving bowl.

Place pasta, meat and cheese on the table so everyone can help themselves.

To serve Pork Neck Sugo 

Cook 500 gm pasta in salted boiling water (Mafalda uses 2 tsp of salt) until al dente (just cooked – the time depends on the pasta type).

Remove the pasta with a slotted spoon and retain the water. (Tip: A few tablespoons of the water should be used to moisten leftovers before refrigerating and storing them.)

Using a slotted spoon, remove the bones from the Sugo and place these in a separate serving bowl. Mix the Sugo into the pasta and serve the Pork Neck Sugo in a covered serving bowl.

Place pasta, meat and cheese on the table so everyone can help themselves.

What else can you have for dinner?

Try these easy seafood recipes, a Chunky Steak Pie just like you bought at a pie shop or Matt Sinclair’s Fraser Isle Spanner Crab Fried Rice.