Years ago our grandparents would make this pasta sauce while we visited them in a small seaside town called Moneglia, on Italy’s west coast. As we grew up, we repeatedly tried to get the recipe to taste how we once remembered it. Every time we asked our grandmother we got a different recipe. It was never the same, until recently our aunt came to visit. We asked her to make us a Ragu sauce and there it was as good as our memories had created. Special Thanks to Adriana Botto.
Ragu
Ingredients
- 2 Lbs. ground beef
- 2 medium onions
- 5 medium garlic cloves
- 2 Tbsp fresh rosemary
- 2 celery sticks
- 5 bay leaves
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 entire parsley bunch without stems around 2 cups
- around 1 cup of olive oil
- 1 can of tomato sauce 15 oz
- 1 can of whole peeled tomatoes 28 oz
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup red wine
Instructions
- In a blender, place these ingredients in the following order: Garlic, Rosemary, Onion, Celery, Parsley, and Oil.
- Blend so that the ingredients are finely chopped and not completely pureed. It may be necessary to use a wooden spoon to push down ingredients to the blade. It helps to use the pulse button on the blender, so it doesn't turn into a smoothie.
- In a large pot sauté the vegetable mix with some olive oil for about 15 to 20 minutes. It should turn darker green and if you notice the olive oil will also have a green tint.
- Add the ground beef and cook on high for another 15 or 20 minutes, until the beef is dark brown. (the meat should taste grilled, not boiled)
- Add the bay leaves and the salt.
- Add the tomato sauce, blended whole peeled tomatoes, tomato paste, and the oregano. Add water and red wine.
- Cook on medium-low with a lid (not completely closed) for about 45 min to an hour. At this point we are trying to reduce the sauce.
- The oil should turn a dark red/orange.
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