One of my favorite memories is spending the day in Tuscany with my family. We toured a winery where we enjoyed a delicious lunch and sampled some of the best wine I’ve ever tasted. Tagliatelle al ragù was the main course and it was so amazing that I knew I had to try to recreate it once we got home. I happened to find a recipe in this book that I would say is pretty darn close to the original. I changed it a bit by adding extra veggies and I used ground beef instead of ground chuck. Now if I could just find a way to recreate the wine and atmosphere to go with! Tip: the longer this sauce simmers, the better it will be. The recommended time is 45 minutes – 3 hours. It was still delicious, but I prefer the consistency to be thicker than what is pictured above which only simmered 45 minutes. Also, a longer cook time gives the flavors time to develop into something amazing.
*Tagliatelle is a flat ribbon-like pasta from Italy. Close substitutes are pappardelle (I get this from Trader Joe’s) and fettuccine.
Tagliatelle al Ragù
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 small onion, diced
- 2 carrot, peeled and diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 1 lb lean ground beef
- salt and freshly ground pepper
- 1/2 cup red wine
- 28 oz can whole tomatoes
- 3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
- 4 cups beef stock
- 1 lb tagliatelle
- 1 cup freshly grated parmesan
Instructions
- Warm the olive oil In a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and vegetables and cook until tender, about 5 minutes.
- Add the beef, season with salt and pepper, and cook for ten minutes, stirring to scrape up brown bits from the bottom of the pan.
- Deglaze with the wine, and cook until it begins to evaporate.
- Add the tomatoes, crushing them while stirring.
- Add the parsley, and cook for another 10 minutes.
- Add the beef stock and lower the heat.
- Simmer until the sauce is rich and thick, 45 minutes – 3 hours. (The longer, the better!)
- Serve over tagliatelle and top with freshly grated parmesan.
