Lynne Rossetto Kasper's 'Country-Style Ragu'
The following recipe is for Craig, but as it is my ragu recipe of choice, and it has been complimented by Italy-born Italians as authentic-tasting, I recommend it for anyone who would like to make a hearty and delicious ragu for a cold winter night. Below is Kasper's recipe "as is" and below it will follow my comments. I suggest reading the entire recipe well before embarking on the ragu preparation, as there is some prep work you may want to do ahead of time.
Country-Style Ragu
Ragu alla Contadina
This ragu is homey and suave at the same time, with a pleasing lightness. Milk is its secret ingredient, mellowing, tenderizing and sweetening the ragu. Sunday dinners throughout Emilia-Romagna's countryside, especially in Modena and Romagna, begin with tagliatelle or maccherioni tossed with some variation of this ragu. Not only is it one of my favorite recipes, it is a fine example of the homestyle ragus prepared with a variety of meats.
[Makes enough sauce for 1 recipe fresh pasta or 1 pound dried pasta]
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 ounces pancetta, finely chopped
1 medium ounce, minced
1 medium stalk celery with leaves, minced
1 small carrot, minced
4 ounces boneless veal shoulder or round
4 ounces boneless pork loin, trimmed of fat, or 4 ounces mild Italian sausage (made without fennel)
8 ounces beef skirt steak, hanging tender, or boneless chuck blade or chuck center cut (in order of preference)
1 ounce thinly sliced Prosciutto di Parma
2/3 cup dry red wine
1 1/2 cups Poultry/Meat Stock (p.66), or 2/3 cup Meat Essences (page 61), or 1 1/2 cups Quick Stock (page 68) (in order of preference)
2 cups whole milk
3 canned plum tomatoes, drained
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Method
Working Ahead: The ragu can be made 3 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate. It also freezes well for up to one month. Skim the fat from the ragu before using it.
Browning the Ragu Base: Heat the olive oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. (Have a 4- to 5- quart saucepan handy to use once browning is completed.) Add pancetta and minced vegetables and saute frequently with a wooden spatula, 10 minutes, or until the onions barely begin to color. Coarsely grind all the meats together, including the prosciutto, in a food processor or meat grinder. Stir into the pan and slowly brown over medium heat. First the meats will give off liquid and turn dull gray, but as the liquid evaporates, browning will begin. Stir often, scooping under the meats with the wooden spatula. Protect the brown glaze forming on the bottom of the pan by turning the heat down. Cook 15 minutes, or until the meats are a deep brown. Turn the contents of the skillet into a strainer and shake out the fat. Turn them into the 4- to 5- quart saucepan and set over medium heat.
Reducing and Simmering: Add the wine to the skillet, lowering the heat so the sauce bubbles quietly. Stir occasionally until the wine has reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Scrape up the brown glaze as the wine bubbles. Then pour the reduced wine into the saucepan and set the skillet aside.
If you are using stock, stir 1/2 cup into the saucepan and let it bubble slowly, 10 minutes, or until totally evaporated. Repeat with another 1/2 cup stock. Stir in the last 1/2 cup stock along with the milk. (if using Meat Essences, add it and the milk to the browned meats, and do not boil it off.) Adjust heat so the liquid bubbles very slowly. Partially cover the pot, and cook 1 hour. Stir frequently to check for sticking.
Add tomatoes, crushing them as they go into the pot. Cook, uncovered, at a very slow bubble another 45 minutes, or until the sauce resembles a thick meaty stew. Season with salt and pepper.
Serving: Toss with freshly cooked pasta and serve immediately. Pass freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.
Suggestions
Wine: A red Bresciano Chiaretto from Lombardy's Riviera del Garda, Sicily's Cerasuolo di Vittoria, or Apulia's velvety, full Salice Salentino Rosso.
Recipe from The Splendid Table: Recipes from Emilia-Romgana, the Heartland of Northern Italian Food by Lynne Rossetto Kasper, p. 48.
My notes:
You will see that Kasper wants you to grind the meat yourself, which most of us are unable to do, so my advice is simply buy the best ground meat you can find, OR what I have done in the past: look for a likely piece of meat that fits her requirements, and ask the person at the meat counter of your grocery store to grind it coarsely for you.
During the Simmering stage, you don't have to stand over the stove the entire time. I come back to it every ten or 15 minutes and check on it to give it a stir. This stage of the ragu-preparation is a good opportunity to have that long phone call with a friend or relative, or read a book or watch a program that you can pause every now and then to come back to your pot and stir a bit. It requires vigilance, but you don't have to be chained to the stove.
Pay attention to your heat - it should be fairly low so that you don't burn or cause your ragu to stick hard to the pan.
DON'T use non-stick pans at any point. You want that brown glaze to form on the bottom of the pan. It is not difficult to deglaze the pan, and indeed it is necessary for the Reduction stage.
Be Patient. This is slow food, so relax, have a glass of wine and enjoy the process.
When serving, please please please avoid that pre-ground so-called 'parmesan' cheese (like the kind that comes in green cans and smells like vomit) - if you're going to make a wonderful ragu like this, splurge a little for a piece of real imported Parmigiano-Reggiano, and grate it at the table. It truly does make a world of difference. Also, please try to use good pasta when you make this - Barilla or De Cecco are the only ones Nicola recommends in the U.S. If not, check your box to make sure it says "Made in Italy" because their rules for pasta production are stringent, and you really shouldn't waste this ragu on anything of less quality.
Also, when serving the ragu with pasta, Less is More. Unlike the American (and perhaps other non-Italian) style of serving pasta, Italians never ever drown their pasta with sauce or ragu. The ragu is extremely flavorful, so typically the pasta will be tossed with ragu - just to coat, no more. Resist the urge to pour on more ragu.
If you have any questions at all, please ask!
Finally, if you like this recipe, and/or you love to cook Italian food, I highly recommend buying this cookbook. It's chock-full of fantastic recipes from Nicola's part of Italy.
Country-Style Ragu
Ragu alla Contadina
This ragu is homey and suave at the same time, with a pleasing lightness. Milk is its secret ingredient, mellowing, tenderizing and sweetening the ragu. Sunday dinners throughout Emilia-Romagna's countryside, especially in Modena and Romagna, begin with tagliatelle or maccherioni tossed with some variation of this ragu. Not only is it one of my favorite recipes, it is a fine example of the homestyle ragus prepared with a variety of meats.
[Makes enough sauce for 1 recipe fresh pasta or 1 pound dried pasta]
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 ounces pancetta, finely chopped
1 medium ounce, minced
1 medium stalk celery with leaves, minced
1 small carrot, minced
4 ounces boneless veal shoulder or round
4 ounces boneless pork loin, trimmed of fat, or 4 ounces mild Italian sausage (made without fennel)
8 ounces beef skirt steak, hanging tender, or boneless chuck blade or chuck center cut (in order of preference)
1 ounce thinly sliced Prosciutto di Parma
2/3 cup dry red wine
1 1/2 cups Poultry/Meat Stock (p.66), or 2/3 cup Meat Essences (page 61), or 1 1/2 cups Quick Stock (page 68) (in order of preference)
2 cups whole milk
3 canned plum tomatoes, drained
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Method
Working Ahead: The ragu can be made 3 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate. It also freezes well for up to one month. Skim the fat from the ragu before using it.
Browning the Ragu Base: Heat the olive oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. (Have a 4- to 5- quart saucepan handy to use once browning is completed.) Add pancetta and minced vegetables and saute frequently with a wooden spatula, 10 minutes, or until the onions barely begin to color. Coarsely grind all the meats together, including the prosciutto, in a food processor or meat grinder. Stir into the pan and slowly brown over medium heat. First the meats will give off liquid and turn dull gray, but as the liquid evaporates, browning will begin. Stir often, scooping under the meats with the wooden spatula. Protect the brown glaze forming on the bottom of the pan by turning the heat down. Cook 15 minutes, or until the meats are a deep brown. Turn the contents of the skillet into a strainer and shake out the fat. Turn them into the 4- to 5- quart saucepan and set over medium heat.
Reducing and Simmering: Add the wine to the skillet, lowering the heat so the sauce bubbles quietly. Stir occasionally until the wine has reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Scrape up the brown glaze as the wine bubbles. Then pour the reduced wine into the saucepan and set the skillet aside.
If you are using stock, stir 1/2 cup into the saucepan and let it bubble slowly, 10 minutes, or until totally evaporated. Repeat with another 1/2 cup stock. Stir in the last 1/2 cup stock along with the milk. (if using Meat Essences, add it and the milk to the browned meats, and do not boil it off.) Adjust heat so the liquid bubbles very slowly. Partially cover the pot, and cook 1 hour. Stir frequently to check for sticking.
Add tomatoes, crushing them as they go into the pot. Cook, uncovered, at a very slow bubble another 45 minutes, or until the sauce resembles a thick meaty stew. Season with salt and pepper.
Serving: Toss with freshly cooked pasta and serve immediately. Pass freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.
Suggestions
Wine: A red Bresciano Chiaretto from Lombardy's Riviera del Garda, Sicily's Cerasuolo di Vittoria, or Apulia's velvety, full Salice Salentino Rosso.
Recipe from The Splendid Table: Recipes from Emilia-Romgana, the Heartland of Northern Italian Food by Lynne Rossetto Kasper, p. 48.
My notes:
You will see that Kasper wants you to grind the meat yourself, which most of us are unable to do, so my advice is simply buy the best ground meat you can find, OR what I have done in the past: look for a likely piece of meat that fits her requirements, and ask the person at the meat counter of your grocery store to grind it coarsely for you.
During the Simmering stage, you don't have to stand over the stove the entire time. I come back to it every ten or 15 minutes and check on it to give it a stir. This stage of the ragu-preparation is a good opportunity to have that long phone call with a friend or relative, or read a book or watch a program that you can pause every now and then to come back to your pot and stir a bit. It requires vigilance, but you don't have to be chained to the stove.
Pay attention to your heat - it should be fairly low so that you don't burn or cause your ragu to stick hard to the pan.
DON'T use non-stick pans at any point. You want that brown glaze to form on the bottom of the pan. It is not difficult to deglaze the pan, and indeed it is necessary for the Reduction stage.
Be Patient. This is slow food, so relax, have a glass of wine and enjoy the process.
When serving, please please please avoid that pre-ground so-called 'parmesan' cheese (like the kind that comes in green cans and smells like vomit) - if you're going to make a wonderful ragu like this, splurge a little for a piece of real imported Parmigiano-Reggiano, and grate it at the table. It truly does make a world of difference. Also, please try to use good pasta when you make this - Barilla or De Cecco are the only ones Nicola recommends in the U.S. If not, check your box to make sure it says "Made in Italy" because their rules for pasta production are stringent, and you really shouldn't waste this ragu on anything of less quality.
Also, when serving the ragu with pasta, Less is More. Unlike the American (and perhaps other non-Italian) style of serving pasta, Italians never ever drown their pasta with sauce or ragu. The ragu is extremely flavorful, so typically the pasta will be tossed with ragu - just to coat, no more. Resist the urge to pour on more ragu.
If you have any questions at all, please ask!
Finally, if you like this recipe, and/or you love to cook Italian food, I highly recommend buying this cookbook. It's chock-full of fantastic recipes from Nicola's part of Italy.