Ragù sauces can be white too. This one is very aromatic as it contains three different spices
ingredients for 4 servings (cost about 5 € pp)
- Salt
- 400 g pasta dough without eggs
- 250 g beef shoulder
- 250 g pork shoulder
- 800 ml beef stock
- 80 ml white wine
- 1 onion
- 1 carrot
- EV sunflower oil
- 40 g butter
- 40 g parmigiano reggiano
- Coarse black pepper
- Freshly ground cinnamon
- Freshly ground allspice
- Freshly ground cloves
According to Larousse dictionary ragù or ragoût is a dish composed of meat pieces and vegetables, cooked in a sauce (Plat composé de morceaux de viande et de légumes cuits dans une sauce). So, even if in some countries there is the false impression that ragù is meat with tomato sauce, in reality ragù may have or may have not tomato.
As you probably have already understood today´s ragù has a white sauce. And it is very particular cos it has 3 different spices. Freshly ground of course. Let´s see how we are gonna prepare it!!
A thing we have to decide when we prepare a ragù is if the meat will be minced, cut in cubes, cut in dice or even shaped in very small meatballs. For today I chose cutting the meat with the knife in small dice, so, if you like, catch your well sharpened knife and start doing this job. But if you want to prepare your meat with another way, that´s OK.
We then cut in dice the onion and the carrot. We start cooking the vegetables and the ground spices using very gentle heat in sunflower oil to soften. When all vegetables are well cooked, we salt them lightly and we set aside.
So, in a large pan, we brown very lightly and in batches the meat (minced or cut with the knife) in the oil. The browning must be light, otherwise the meat will become too dry, we just want to add some Maillard aromas to the whole preparation. We deglaze with the wine bringing it to a boil to evaporate the excess alcohol. We add the stock and we check the salt. We then reduce the heat to minimum and we let the meat simmer for about 2 hours, maybe more, depending on the cut of the meat and also the exact temperature, which in any case must be very low.
What we need to keep in mind is that we want the meat to be very very tender, almost melted in the sauce. We also have to care that the stock must be well concentrated to sauce, thus, if the meat is ready and the sauce is still weak, we remove the meat from the pot, we raise the heat and we shorten the liquid.
We also have to remember that the lid of the pot must be semi closed and not hermetically sealed in order to limit the temperature to “friendly” levels. It is important for this preparation not to hurry, a low temperature secures an excellent ragù.
Meanwhile we prepare the fresh pasta (see note below) as we have learnt here, we shape it to fusilli and we let it dry.
When the meat is ready we add the butter, the vegetables and some pepper and we remove from heat.
Meanwhile in a big pot we bring to boil salted water. When ready, we cook our pasta for about 2 or 3 minutes.
We drain the fusilli and we carry them in a big pan or wok with the ragu sauce. We add the parmigiano cheese and we start to mantecare, which mean continuously stirring the pasta and adding boiling water, till we create a creamy result.
We put in plates and we serve.
NOTE: You can read how to prepare your own fresh fusili here
