Ragu alla Bolognese
Everyone likes a good ragu. I know I sure do and it's just about my favorite pasta piatto to cook. I've been working on my recipe for years but during a Winter spent in Italy, Patty and I found ourselves in Bologna, the home of the real deal Ragu.
Now most people in the US call it spaghetti with meat sauce, or Bolognese sauce spaghetti, but actually, it's just simply called a ragu. Servicemen from WWII stationed in Bologna and Milano came back after the war raving about it and demanding restaurants put it on their menu. So yeah, I blame Gen Patton for ragu coming to America.
Whatever you choose to call it, it's the absolute bomb.
Although, as noted above, I've been prone to brag about my ragu. So when I found myself I living in Vado for the winter- about a 15-minute train ride to Bologna
with my birthday looming, I gave myself a treat and signed up for a full day cooking lesson with Chef Daniele, to learn how it's really done,
As luck would have it, Patty and I were the only signups that day (yay, non-tourist wintertime in Italy) so we basically had a private all-day cooking lesson.
Ragu, Bolognese stylee
Brodo
Tortelinni
Daniele has a little shop called, Drogheria Elefante about half a mile from the Duomo;
A combination cooking school and spice shop during the day and Bar at night (though the bar set up looked more like an excuse to pop down a few drinks with his pals at night).
I think they specialized in gin. I asked Daniele why Elefante, and he said, his daughter likes elephants so she got to name the shop. Family is super important in Italy.
For the next 5 hours, we made brodo, we made a long-form 3 hours at slow simmer ragu. we made pasta, kneaded then rolled it out and turned it into tagliatelle and tortellini. Then we feasted on the fruit of our labors. Best birthday ever.
Things I learned from Daniele which has significantly ramped up my ragu game.
I've carried this advice home with me and in general, when I have good ingredients, I lean toward strongly under seasoning, to let the food speak for itself, though I still love garlic - a lot. So I cheat and add that. Don't tell Daniele, please.
It was over the moon fantastic.
Ingredienti
soffritto. (mirepoix in French) - onions, celery, and carrot finely diced in a 2-1-1 ratio
ground beef 150 grams
pancetta ground 150 grams
white wine
tomato paste and tomato sauce
Instruzioni:
1. And I quote Danielle: amore e passione
2. Sofritto pretty much drowned in EVOO at med-low simmer for 15 minutes or so until onions are transparent and celery and carrots have begun to soften
3. Throw in the ground beef to brown
4. Throw in the ground pancetta to brown
5. Add a half to one cup of wine, let it mostly burn off
6. Stir a generous amount of doppio strength tomato paste, and about 28 oz of tomato sauce. San Marzano if you can find it.
7. A ladle or two of brodo. We had ours going on another burner, but out of the fridge is just fine. Just make sure that's it's brodo you made yourself and isn't store-bought.
Cook at low simmer for three hours. add more brodo if it's getting too thick (don't let it burn!!). Check about once an hour for the first two hours then every fifteen minutes for the last hour.
At the three hour mark, turn off the heat and let it rest for about 20 minutes then add salt to taste.
Mix it with the fresh tagliatelle you just made and cap it with Parmesan-Reggiano or Pecorino-Reggiano -- heaven awaits.
Scuola di cucina Bolognese
🇮🇹Amore per la tradizione
📬 lamiabologna@gmail.com
PS: I chatted with Daniele just last weekend and he and his family are safe and healthy, though his business is shuttered. If you've ever wanted to learn to cook from the real deal, DO hit him up and book a class with him. He's one Helluva great cook and a fine human being.
Now most people in the US call it spaghetti with meat sauce, or Bolognese sauce spaghetti, but actually, it's just simply called a ragu. Servicemen from WWII stationed in Bologna and Milano came back after the war raving about it and demanding restaurants put it on their menu. So yeah, I blame Gen Patton for ragu coming to America.
Whatever you choose to call it, it's the absolute bomb.
Although, as noted above, I've been prone to brag about my ragu. So when I found myself I living in Vado for the winter- about a 15-minute train ride to Bologna
As luck would have it, Patty and I were the only signups that day (yay, non-tourist wintertime in Italy) so we basically had a private all-day cooking lesson.
Ragu, Bolognese stylee
Brodo
Tortelinni
Daniele has a little shop called, Drogheria Elefante about half a mile from the Duomo;
For the next 5 hours, we made brodo, we made a long-form 3 hours at slow simmer ragu. we made pasta, kneaded then rolled it out and turned it into tagliatelle and tortellini. Then we feasted on the fruit of our labors. Best birthday ever.
Things I learned from Daniele which has significantly ramped up my ragu game.
- Forget about the Garlic. Italians and specifically Northern Italians eschew garlic. Too strong, masks the flavors of the meat and veggies in the ragu.
- Forget most all spices, no basil, parsley or anything really while it simmers. Again (see a pattern developing here) purity of flavor so you can taste all the wonderous aromas blending together.
- In fact, the only thing added, period, was a dousing of salt at the end to tie everything into a neat bow and solidify the overall aromas. Daniele literally had me taste the ragu at the three-hour mark, then turned off the heat, let it rest for a while, then hit it with a fistful of salt, stirred, and had me taste again. Brilliant.
- People in Bologna are wild about pro basketball. They, unlike the rest of Italy, couldn't care less about soccer. Bologna has three pro teams of its own and it's taken over the scene, sports-wise. Both Daniele and his friend who acted as an interpreter were wild about the Golden State Warriors and when I told them we lived in the Oakland hills, they just had to know: was I related to Klay Thompson, Warriors star. Uh, no, but we had a great time while eating and drinking wine, talking about how great the Warriors are and who is better Michel Jordon or Steph Curry. Male bonding tutto, con il miel nuovi amici.
I've carried this advice home with me and in general, when I have good ingredients, I lean toward strongly under seasoning, to let the food speak for itself, though I still love garlic - a lot. So I cheat and add that. Don't tell Daniele, please.
It was over the moon fantastic.
Ingredienti
soffritto. (mirepoix in French) - onions, celery, and carrot finely diced in a 2-1-1 ratio
ground beef 150 grams
pancetta ground 150 grams
white wine
tomato paste and tomato sauce
Instruzioni:
1. And I quote Danielle: amore e passione
2. Sofritto pretty much drowned in EVOO at med-low simmer for 15 minutes or so until onions are transparent and celery and carrots have begun to soften
3. Throw in the ground beef to brown
4. Throw in the ground pancetta to brown
5. Add a half to one cup of wine, let it mostly burn off
6. Stir a generous amount of doppio strength tomato paste, and about 28 oz of tomato sauce. San Marzano if you can find it.
7. A ladle or two of brodo. We had ours going on another burner, but out of the fridge is just fine. Just make sure that's it's brodo you made yourself and isn't store-bought.
Cook at low simmer for three hours. add more brodo if it's getting too thick (don't let it burn!!). Check about once an hour for the first two hours then every fifteen minutes for the last hour.
At the three hour mark, turn off the heat and let it rest for about 20 minutes then add salt to taste.
Mix it with the fresh tagliatelle you just made and cap it with Parmesan-Reggiano or Pecorino-Reggiano -- heaven awaits.
One day I'll go into detail about the brodo and the art of pasta and tortellini making, but that's a full post on its own. Here's a teaser...
BTW, you too can take a class with Daniele - in Bologna or via Skype or WhatsApp
LamiaBologna. (on Instagram & skype)
Danielle (on WhatsApp)
🇮🇹Amore per la tradizione
📬 lamiabologna@gmail.com
PS: I chatted with Daniele just last weekend and he and his family are safe and healthy, though his business is shuttered. If you've ever wanted to learn to cook from the real deal, DO hit him up and book a class with him. He's one Helluva great cook and a fine human being.
Comments
Post a Comment