Ragù, From Me to You

As another week of quarantine draws to a close, it’s time for another easy-to-prepare pasta sauce recipe. This week has been chilly for April. It’s snowed, the wind’s been blowing and even though I haven’t had to venture outside much, it still makes you want for some heartwarming food. Thusly, I made ragù.

Now, before we go any further, a disclaimer: this is MY ragù. I am not Italian, I am in no way trying to pass this off as authentically Italian, please don’t tell me that your nonna would never, ever have added this, or done that. This is not a Bolognese, either. That’s a very specific type of ragù, and once again, I’m not Italian and this is not meant to be any kind of authentic, it’s just very, very tasty. This particular ragù is one I’ve been working on and improving over the course of my career. It’s good enough to serve at a restaurant, and I have done so to much acclaim. But as far as authenticity goes, it’s about as Italian as Chef Boyardee.

None of that should put you off of making it, though. This is a surprisingly easy and decadent sauce to pull off. It lasts for a few days, getting better with age and my fiancée has been known to eat a bowl of it, without even bothering to add pasta. High praise, indeed. This sauce will stick to your ribs and wake you up at 4am, excited for lunch the next day. It’s THAT good.

A couple of points before we begin:

• Try not to use lean (and NEVER use extra-lean) ground meat for this. Fat is, after all, flavour. If you feel your meat is rendering off too much fat, you can always strain it off, or let the sauce cool in the fridge overnight. The fat will rise to the top and solidify for easy extraction.
• Add milk before wine. This protects the delicate meat from the harsh acidic nature of the wine, and then the tomatoes.
• Since we’re adding milk before wine, reduce your wine in a separate saucepan before adding it, to cook off the alcohol.
• The longer you let this sauce simmer, the better. 3 hours, minimum.
• I really like to use three types of ground meat (pork, beef and veal) in this sauce. But I realize that may be excessive for some, so if you want to go with just pork and beef, that’s okay. I guess you just don’t love life like I do.
• You’re going to see a couple of ingredients and go “What? Really?”. Yes, really. Trust me.

Got all of that? Excited? Okay, here we go:

Ingredients:

• ½ cup (113mL) extra virgin olive oil
• 1 red onion, peeled and finely diced
• 2 yellow onions, peeled and finely diced
• 2 large carrots, peeled and finely diced
• 2 ribs of celery, finely diced
• 1 small fennel bulb, finely diced
• 5 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 TSP dried chili flakes
• 2 bay leaves, fresh or dried
• 1 TSP chili powder
• 1 TSP nutmeg, freshly ground preferably
• 1 TSP allspice
• ½ TSP ground clove
• 6-8 sprigs thyme, leaves only
• 4-5 sprigs rosemary, leaves only, roughly chopped
• 14oz (400g) pancetta, finely diced
• 1lb. (500g) ground pork
• 1lb. (500g) ground beef *OR* 8oz. (250g) ground beef + 8oz. (250g) ground veal
• 17oz. (500mL) 2% milk, as needed
• 25oz. (750mL) white wine, reduced by half to 12.5oz. (375mL)
• 1 cup (240mL) tomato paste
• 1 28oz. (796mL) can whole peeled Roma tomatoes
• Kosher salt, to taste
• Black pepper, freshly ground, to taste
• As much pasta as you like, whatever shape you like, I recommend pappardelle
• Parmesan cheese, freshly grated (optional, but not really)
• Italian parsley, leaves only, roughly chopped

Method:

1. In a large, heavy bottomed and wide pot such as a Dutch oven or rondeau, begin to gently heat the olive oil over low to medium low heat. Once it begins to shimmer, add the chopped onions, carrots, celery and fennel. Season with a pinch of salt and allow them to sweat, stirring occasionally for 10-12 minutes without colouring.
2.  Add the garlic, chili flakes and bay leaves. Stir to combine and let cook gently for another 5-6 minutes, without colouring. You’re looking for gentle cooking here, releasing all the aromatics of the vegetables. They should smell good enough to eat on their own.
3. Add the chili powder, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, thyme and rosemary. Stir to combine, and keep gently cooking for 1-2 minutes more, appreciating the increasing complexity of the aromas wafting from the pot.
4. Add the pancetta, stir to combine and let cook and render for 3-4 minutes.
5. Add the ground pork, beef and veal (if using). Season with a healthy pinch of salt, and stir to combine. Don’t worry about browning the meat, just keep breaking it up to cook all the pink away. If the mixture is absolutely swimming in rendered fat at this point, you can carefully tilt the pot to ladle some of it away, or strain out your meat and vegetable mixture, before pouring off excess fat and returning the mixture to the pot.
6. Add enough milk to just cover the meat and vegetables. Stir to combine and raise the heat to medium. Allow the pot to just barely come to a simmer.
7. Add the reduced wine and tomato paste, stirring to combine and once again allow the pot to just barely reach a simmer.
8. Add the entire can of tomatoes and their liquid, crushing the tomatoes in the pot with a wooden spoon or spatula, stirring to combine. Allow the pot to come to a simmer, and let simmer uncovered for minimum 3 hours, or until you just can’t take it anymore and you have to eat.
9. Give it a taste and season with kosher salt and black pepper accordingly. Cook your pasta and ladle some of that sauce on there. Top with freshly grated parmesan and chopped parsley, if you like.  It’s amazing right out of the pot, but even better gently reheated the next day.

Allora! That’s it, that’s all. This has been one of my favorite recipes for years and years. I hope you’ll try it and let me know what you think. Like I said, it’s not authentically Italian, but it IS authentically delicious. Stay safe and healthy everybody!