Basic Ragu

Ingredients

200 grams of lean beef (can use yearling) shoulder or rump,
200 grams of pork neck or loin,
200 grams lamb loin
grappa - a few drops*
1 medium size carrot, roughly diced
2 stalks of celery, roughly diced
3 small onions,
20 ml oil
200 grams butter
800 gram tin of peeled tomato (I kilo fresh)
150 grams tomato paste

Method

Clean and dice the meat

Gently fry the carrot and celery a couple of minutes in butter and oil,

Fry the meat in the pan with the vegetables. It should not get dark. Cover and simmer until the meat absorbs all the juice and then add a few drops of grappa.

The meat should cook reasonably fast but must have time to absorb all the juices, about 20 minutes. Add tomato pulp and paste. The carrot and celery flavour should not pre-dominate, the main flavour should be of meat and tomato. If you want the sauce dark, then you can brown the meat, but the flavour will not be as good. Don't let the sauce stick to bottom of pan as this will give a heavy braised flavour to the ragu. After tomato is added, cover and cook another 30 minutes covered till fully tender.

Notes

You can make ragu, with meat on the bone and without. To cook on the bone, take a shoulder of beef and cook as above, then remove the meat and with that sauce you toss the tagliatelle and then eat the meat separately. This gives you a two course meal based on the same flavours.

Many Italian cooks use wine in the ragu mix. However Silvana does not use wine. She says - " I prefer not to use wine. With the ragu I put a few drops of grappa"

Ragu with Pasta

The old fashioned way was to cook tagliatelle al dente and put on the plate. Then pour over the ragu.

Now, many toss the pasta through the ragu. This is not recommended. The pasta shouldn't be heated with the ragu. Put the pasta on the plate then pour over the hot ragu and serve with grated parmesan cheese on top.