Ragù is a typical Italian sauce, probably one of the most famous: there are several differents recipes about it, some of them longer and a bit more complicated, some other a bit simpler. Let's see the one I always use at home: I don't know if it's the original one, but you can trust me about its taste!
Ingredients (metric and imperial) - Party of 4
- 400g (14oz) of Pasta: choose your favourite one
- 300g (10-11 oz) of lean beef, finely chopped
- 100g (3-4 oz) of Pancetta, sliced in sticks
- 240ml (1 cup) of red wine: Italian Sangiovese is the best to be used, but don't worry too much about it.
- 750ml (3 cups) of tomato sauce/pulp
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 carrot, finely chopped
- 1 stick of celery, finely copped
- 50g (3 tablespoons) of extravirgin olive oil
- 2 leaves of laurel (or 1 teaspoon of dry laurel)
- 2-3 pinches of salt
- 1 pinch of pepper
- Some pinches of Parmigiano
Mehod
- Put in a big pot the olive oil, the onion, the carrot, the celery and turn on a low flame
- When onion becomes a bit transparent, add the lean beaf and the pancetta, increase the flame and add the wine
- You will see your meat becoming a bit darker, at this time add the tomato sauce/pulp and the laurel
- Reduce the heat, add salt and pepper and cook your sauce until it becomes dense as you prefer.
- Boil pasta in salted water. You've to stop cooking it 2 minutes before the instruction of the packet says. At this time strain it out of the water (saving a glass of it) and pour it in the pan with high flame, mixing it with the sauce and ending the cooking time in there. The right way to cook it is firm to the bite ( “al dente", in Italian). If it becomes a bit dry, then add a little quantity of cooking water while mixing.
- Serve your dish adding some Parmigiano on the top.