Ragu Napoletano
(Meat sauce) does not come
from a jar. Ragu is one of, what is probably, the three most popular sauces in
southern Italy. It is cooked slowly for several hours and has some kind of meat
in it. The type of meat depends on your personal tastes but, traditionally it's
ground beef.
Ingredients for 4
persons:
Olive oil
(extra virgin): 1/2 cup
Onion (fresh): 1 small
Ground Beef: 2 pounds
Tomato paste: 4-6 ounces
red table wine (semi-dry or dry) 3-4 ounces
Italian peeled plum tomatoes (canned): 2 cans (about 28
ounces each)
Salt: to
taste
How to do it:
Preheat a 2
or 3 quart sauce pan.
Once it is hot put in the olive oil and onion.
Sautee the onion until it is tender then add the ground beef and brown it.
Continue to cook the ground beef until all of the water has been cooked out of
the beef.
If you are fortunate enough to find a meat supplier who does not add water to
their beef you will be able to cook the meat for a shorter period of time (let
me know where you buy beef).
Add the tomato paste and let simmer for about five minutes, stirring often.
Add the wine and let simmer another five minutes, stirring often.
Add the Italian peeled tomatoes (chop them a little with a sharp knife as they
come out of the can).
Simmer this sauce mixture for about three hours, occasionally adding water to
prevent over-thickening and burning.
Stir occasionally during the simmering process.
Add salt when the sauce is almost done.
Note:
If you salt your
sauce too soon when it is still watery or thin, you run the risk of your sauce
becoming salty by the time it cooks down.
Note #2:
When making
Italian tomato sauces, spend the extra few pennies and get imported peeled plum
tomatoes. American canned tomatoes like Hunts are just not the correct variety
for sauce because the sugar content is much higher making your sauce sweet.
