Pork Braised with Milk and Two Types of Polenta

Pork with Polenta

The other Polenta

It is getting cool in Los Angeles and it was appropriate for us to cook one of our favorite pork recipes: Pork Braised in Milk from . If you have never made this dish, or if you are not a cook this is the dish for you! This is a no fail, easy, delicious, surprising dish.

Pork Braised in Milk and Polenta

This was one more dinner we made in the post holiday vacation. This is one of our all-time favorites. It was one of the first dishes that we jointly made, years ago. It sounds weird to braise pork in milk, but is an excellent preparation. The milk eventually boils off, creating a dark thick sauce as it combines with the pork drippings during cooking. The recipe we use is from Marcella Hazan: The Classic Italian Cookbook. Matt Molina who used to cook at Campanile, and now is the executive chief at Mozza, served it once and made an addition that we have incorporated. He added sautéed onions, garlic, lemon peel and sage to the recipe. It was a good addition to the recipe.

1. 2 tablespoons butter

2. 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

3. 2 pounds boneless pork loin, with some fat on it

4. 1 teaspoon salt

5. freshly group pepper

6. 2 ½ cups milk

7. 2 chopped onions sauted with chopped garlic and sage leaves and lemon peel

Use a casserole pan slightly larger then the pork. Heat the butter and oil and brown onions 1 or 2 chopped garlic cloves some fresh sage leaves and lemon peel. When golden remove from pan.

Add the pork and on a medium high heat braise on all sides till brown. Reduce the heat and slowly add the milk and salt and pepper. Bring to boil then reduce heat to medium and cover with lid slightly open. Cook 1 ½ to 2 hours turning the meat every 30 minutes. By the time the meat is cooked, the milk should have evaporated, leaving a brown nutty sauce. Remove the pork and add the onion and garlic to the sauce in the pan and heat.

Let the meat slightly cool, slice and serve with sauce.

We have always read about what is supposedly the best polenta in the world (other than our cat named Polenta). It is from Anson Mills in South Carolina. We finally bought several bags of the Polenta and this is the first time that we had used it. It is good, and has a rougher texture than the traditional Italian Polenta that we use. We recommend it.