Vegetable Ragout with Pork: Easy Stewed Zucchini and Meat Recipe

Step-by-step recipe

1. Vegetable ragout with meat is best made with pork without fat, so the pieces of meat stay firm and stand out in the dish. Young vegetables typical of early summer: young zucchini with undeveloped seeds, onion and a head of young garlic, carrot and hot pepper pods. And ripe tomatoes for the sauce, which is important. You can buy everything at the market or in a shop.
   
2. Trim the film and any small bones from the pork. Heat a little vegetable oil in a saucepan and let it warm for a few minutes. Cut the pork into large pieces that are easy to pick up with a fork. Fry the pork in the hot oil until lightly browned.
   
3. Peel the carrot and dice it. Separate the head of young garlic into cloves without peeling them. Remove the seeds and inner white membranes from the hot pepper pods, as they give the pepper most of its heat. Chop the hot pepper into small pieces. Add the carrot, garlic and pepper to the fried meat.
   
4. Fry the meat and vegetables for 6-7 mins over medium heat. Stir everything for more even frying. As soon as the carrot softens a little, add the onion cut into large strips. Keep frying the meat and vegetables for another 5-6 mins.
   
5. Young zucchini don't need peeling; use them with the skin on. Then the zucchini pieces won't blend into the sauce and will stand out, so the ragout will have large pieces. Cut the zucchini into large cubes. It is convenient to halve the zucchini lengthwise, then into quarters, and cut into pieces 2-3 cm thick. Add the chopped zucchini to the ragout.
   
7. Stirring occasionally, keep frying all the ingredients of the ragout in the open pan until the vegetables are soft.
   
8. Meanwhile, scald the ripe red tomatoes with boiling water and remove the seeds and skin. Blend the flesh to a puree. Add a pinch of salt and 0.5 tsp of sugar to the tomato puree. Season with pepper to taste and add a little ground coriander.
9. Pour the prepared tomato sauce into the ragout, add a third of a cup of water and bring the liquid to a boil.
   
10. Cover the saucepan with a lid and turn the heat down to the minimum at which the sauce still shows signs of simmering. The liquid must never boil vigorously, or all the vegetables will fall apart into mush. Stew the vegetable ragout with meat for at least 30 mins. The stewing time for dishes like this can be up to 1 hour.
    
11. If you want a thinner dish, you can add just a little liquid. But it's better for the ragout with meat and vegetables to be thick. If necessary, take the lid off the saucepan and let the excess liquid evaporate.
    
12. Spoon the finished vegetable ragout with meat into deep plates and sprinkle with finely chopped parsley. Serve right away while it is hot.
    
13. Vegetable ragout with meat needs no side dish. Still, mashed potatoes or young village-style potatoes would go very well with it.
14. You can add other vegetables to the ragout, such as young potatoes, eggplants or sweet peppers. It is better to roast the eggplants and peppers beforehand and peel them; the skin comes off easily.
    
15. One more thing: many people are wary of fresh hot pepper in stewed dishes, quite wrongly. Red pepper with the seeds and white inner membranes removed is practically sweet, with a barely noticeable hint of heat that you almost can't taste in the finished dish.