I make this Pork and Fennel Tomato Sauce all the time. It’s a riff on my roast pork loin with fennel and thyme. The fennel and thyme add a somewhat Italian flavour to the pasta sauce. It’s a little different but all the flavours go nicely together. Fennel, of course, nicely compliments the pork.
Try to find San Marzano tomatoes for this; they are very flavourful and the liquid they are packed in is thick…almost like a passata. I normally buy mine by the case from Costco. If you can’t find them, just use regular canned diced tomatoes.
You can also add an onion and a few cloves of garlic to the carrot and celery mixture, or use them in place of the carrot and celery. The carrot and celery, once cooked in the oil, add a lot of flavour themselves. I also added some cubed, roasted eggplant. When roasted, the eggplant turns creamy and buttery and adds great body to the sauce. If you don’t like eggplant, you can leave it out. However, I think you should really give it a try! You can also add a chopped zucchini towards the end of the cooking time.
I like to serve this hearty pork and fennel tomato sauce over wide, flat noodles, like pappardelle. However, I also serve it with whatever pasta I might have on hand. Like here, I topped fusilli with the sauce.
Pork and Fennel Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 eggplant chopped into 1-cm cubes
- 1 carrot peeled and finely chopped
- 1 stalk celery finely chopped
- 5 white mushrooms finely chopped
- 500 g lean ground pork
- 2 tsp fennel seeds
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 28 oz can San Marzano tomatoes
- 1/2 cup pork, beef, or chicken stock
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 F. Toss the chopped eggplant with 2 Tbsp of olive oil. Spread the eggplant evenly on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Roast for 25-30 minutes or until cooked and edges of eggplant are starting to brown. Set aside.
- In a large, heavy bottomed pot, heat the remaining 1 Tbsp olive oil over medium heat.
- Add the carrot and celery and saute for 5 minutes.
- Add the mushrooms and cook for 3 more minutes.
- Add the pork and cook, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon. Cook for 10 minutes, or until the pork is no longer pink and is starting to brown.
- Add the fennel, thyme, and bay leaf. Stir well.
- Add the tomatoes, stock, and water.
- Bring to a boil over medium heat, then turn heat to low and simmer for at least 30 minutes (I like to let it go for an hour).
- Add the roasted eggplant and stir. Cook until sauce is bubbling again.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve over freshly cooked pasta.
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