November means comfort food, which to me, means a big pot of stew bubbling on the stove all afternoon, while you curl up on the couch with a good book. Doesn’t that sound magical? In reality, it’s pretty challenging in our always-on-the-go world. To have so much leisure time at home to have a slow-cooked stew or sauce every weekend, that’s where this slow cooker Sunday sauce comes in!

This Sunday sauce cooks away for hours, but you don’t need to be at home, because the slow cooker does all of the work. The flavours intensify as it cooks and the pork shoulder becomes incredibly tender, so much so that it falls right off the bone the minute you remove it from the sauce.

This is a simple and flavourful recipe, filled with fresh ingredients. The first step is to brown the pork shoulder. This will add a ton of pork flavour to the sauce, as well as some textural elements from the crispy seared bits. If you’re thinking about skipping this step, please don’t!

In addition to the pork, white wine and tomatoes add a hit of acid to the sauce.  A ton of tomato paste gets caramelized to add a little ‘je ne sais quoi’. The flavour begins to build in the pan and then continues in the slow cooker.

Because we’re getting into the depths of winter, fresh herbs are harder to come by. I reach for high-quality dried oregano for this style of dish, knowing that it will simmer for hours. Oregano is a hearty and tough herb that can stand up to this cooking method—save the strands of fresh basil for sprinkling in at the end!

This is the style of recipe that makes up the majority of the recipes in my repertoire, maximum flavour with simple ingredients you likely already have in your pantry and fridge.