The Best Pasta Sauce I Have Ever Cooked

I cooked a ragù for pasta last week and it was absolutely scrummy! I love tagliatelle with a meat sauce and this recipe is fantastic.

First a confession: when I say it’s the best ragù I’ve ever cooked I’m not really saying a lot as I don’t cook that much. So it might be more accurate to say that it’s one of the best meat sauces for pasta I’ve ever tasted, and I managed to prepare it!

If you’re a natural cook I think you’ll find this recipe a doddle. If like me, you’ve difficulty finding the right utensils in your own kitchen then you’ll probably still find this recipe stress free, as nothing is done in a hurry. In fact, after the tomatoes are added the best thing to do is let it slowly simmer away until it reaches the consistency you prefer.

The recipe comes from The Classic Italian Cookbook by Marcella Hazan. I’m not sure if the edition I have is still available but I’m pretty sure the recipe is reproduced in her more recent The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking.

According to the author, it is important to remember the following points:

• The meat must be sautéed just barely long enough to lose its raw colour.
• It must be cooked in milk before the tomatoes are added.
• It must cook at the merest simmer for 3.5 to 5 hours!

Here are the ingredients for 6 servings:

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 40g butter
• 2 tablespoons chopped onion
• 2 tablespoons chopped celery
• 2 tablespoons chopped carrot
• 350g minced lean beef preferably chuck or neck
• Salt
• 300ml dry white wine
• 8 (120ml) tablespoons full cream milk
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
• 400g tinned chopped tomatoes

The Steps:

1. Heat a heavy based pot and sauté the onion with all the oil and butter until translucent.
2. Add the celery and carrot and cook 2 minutes.
3. Add the minced beef, crumble with a fork, add salt, and cook briefly until the meat has just lost its raw colour.
4. Add the wine and increase the heat to medium high and cook, stirring occasionally until the wine has evaporated.
5. Reduce the heat to medium and add the milk and nutmeg and once again cook until it has evaporated, stirring from time to time.
6. Once the milk has evaporated add the tomatoes, stir well and reduce the heat to the gentlest simmer.
7. Stir occasionally and allow it to cook uncovered for 3.5 to 4 hours. 5 is best.
8. Adjust the seasoning adding more salt and pepper to suit.

I didn’t follow the recipe exactly and purists will probably despair at my changes, but the end result was fantastic.

I started with 1kg of mince, so I multiplied everything except the wine and the milk by two and a half.

I increased the volume of wine and the milk by about 50%.

I used low fat milk.

I had no celery, so I left it out.

I used two small onions, one large carrot, lean round steak mince. And possibly the biggest faux pas, I used French wine!

I’m fairly certain I didn’t simmer for 5 hours.

Why I like this sauce:

• It tastes great, wonderful depth of flavour
• It’ll keep in the fridge for 3 days
• You can freeze it
• You can use it with pasta (tagliatelle is best) or in a lasagne
• All you have to be able to do is chop and stir – not that hard really.
• Did I mention it tastes great?

Buon appetito!

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