This sauce, aka Ragù alla Bolognesa from Colette Haydon John, is a delightful and delicious sauce for your pasta (which is even better, if you make the pasta from scratch).  I have served it to company twice and both times have had rave reviews.  This makes a good amount for about 6-8 people, but I’d recommend doubling it and freezing the extra in a ziplock gallon bag to pull  out on one of those busy evenings, when dinner is last minute. It would be some kind of last minute meal!

4 oz. olive oil
1 large onion, finely diced
6 celery stalks, finely diced
4 carrots, peeled and finely diced
4 oz. thinly sliced pancetta, roughly chopped
2 chicken livers, finely chopped
1.5 lb ground chuck steak, brought to room temperature
3 t. salt
1/4 t. freshly ground black pepper
1/8 t. ground nutmeg
1 c. dry white wine (I used Chardonnay)
3 c. chicken stock, heated
2 (13oz) cans Italian peeled tomatoes, chopped with their juice
4 oz. marscarpone
2 lbs. linguine, prepared before serving acc. to directions w/ 3 t. salt
1/4 c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1. Make your soffrito
Soffrito, roughly translated as “softly fried”, is the fried diced aromatics that are the base of the dish, in this case the onions, celery and carrots.

Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy based pot, then add the diced vegetables and stir over high heat for 5 minutes until they are soft but not browned.

2. Add the meats

Add the pancetta to the soffrito, allowing it to release some of its fats, then add the chicken livers and brown. Mash the chicken livers with a fork as they cook to help them blend into the sauce.

Season the chuck steak with salt and pepper, and add. Make sure the meat is at room temperature to allow it to sear and not stew when it hits the pan. Brown the meat, stirring occasionally to prevent the vegetables from sticking. Add the pinch of nutmeg.

3. Add the wine
Add the white wine and let it bubble up until it has almost evaporated.

4. Add the stock
Add the heated stock a cup at a time, allowing each cup to evaporate and enrich the sauce before adding the next. This is much like the process of making a risotto and will give you a truly voluptuous sauce.

5. Add the tomatoes
Pour in the tomatoes with their juice, bring the whole pot to a boil then reduce to a low simmer and allow to gently bubble, uncovered, for 3 hours, stirring occasionally.

6. Add the cream
Stir in the cream or marscapone in the last 5 minutes. Give it a good stir and taste the sauce to see if it needs more seasoning.

To serve
The people of Bologna traditionally serve their ragù with homemade fresh egg pasta, usually tagliatelle or pappardelle, but a ribbon or short dried pasta is also perfectly suitable, but never spaghetti which is too thin to hold the chunky sauce.

Cook your pasta in plenty of salted water. If you are using dried pasta, ensure you cook it to ‘al dente’ and no further.

Heat a serving dish. Drain the pasta and turn into the dish. Add the sauce and mix well. Serve with freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano (Parmesan Cheese). Enjoy!

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