Neapolitan Ragù Recipes

NEAPOLITAN MEAT SAUCE - RAGU NAPOLETANO ALLA ANNA GALASSO

Steps:

• Dry the round steak with paper towels, and rub it on both sides with salt and pepper.
• Sprinkle the meat with the parsley and cheese.
• Roll the meat up like a jellyroll, and tie it in several places with kitchen string.
• Salt and pepper the spare ribs. Set the meats aside.
• Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large heavy duty pot. Over medium heat, brown the round steak and spare ribs in the oil on all sides. This will take about 5 minutes.
• Stir in the onion, celery and carrot and continue cooking until the vegetables begin to soften. Stir in the garlic and basil. Cook 1 minute.
• Combine the tomatoes and wine in a bowl. Slowly pour the mixture over the meat.
• Stir in the tablespoon of salt, a grinding of pepper, and the sugar.
• Cover the pot, bring the sauce to a boil, then lower the heat to simmer, and cook the sauce until the meat is fork tender, about 1 1/2 hours.
• Remove the meat to a dish. Cover the dish, and refrigerate the meat to make it easier to cut when cold.
• When ready to use, transfer the round steak to a cutting board, and cut the strings from the round steak with a kitchen scissors.
• Cut into neat slices about 1/4-1/2" thick.
• Add to the sauce. Cut the meat off the bones of the spareribs and add the pieces to the sauce.
• Use the sauce for pasta dishes both boiled and baked.

RAGU ALLA NAPOLETANA

Steps:

• In a small bowl, combine pine nuts, raisins and garlic. Lay meat slices on a work surface, and season them lightly on both sides with salt and pepper. Sprinkle pine nut and raisin mixture on 1 side of the slices. Roll slices up and secure them with a toothpick or tie them with kitchen string. Place them in a large, deep saute pan and add oil, onion and 4 cups of water. Place over medium heat and simmer, uncovered, until water has evaporated, about 1 1/4 hours.
• Continue cooking, turning meat rolls with tongs, until meat is lightly browned on all sides. Add wine to pan and cook until evaporated. Drain tomatoes, reserving juice, and coarsely chop tomatoes. Add tomatoes, reserved juice and tomato paste to pan and bring to a simmer. Cook until sauce is very thick, about 2 hours.
• Remove meat from pan with tongs, remove toothpicks or cut string, and place meat on a serving platter. Season sauce with salt and pepper, and pour it over ziti or penne. Serve with meat and grated Parmesan on the side.

NEAPOLITAN RAGù

Steps:

• 1 In a large heavy pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Pat the pork dry and put the pieces in the pot. Cook, turning occasionally, about 15 minutes or until nicely browned on all sides. Remove the pork to a plate. Brown the beef in the same way and remove it from the pot. 2 Place the sausages in the pot and brown on all sides. Set the sausages aside with the other meats. 3 Drain off most of the fat. Add the garlic and cook 2 minutes or until golden. Discard the garlic. Stir in the tomato paste cook 1 minute. 4 With a food mill, puree the tomatoes and their juice into the pot. Or, for a chunkier sauce, just chop up the tomatoes. Add 2 cups water and salt and pepper. Add the pork, beef, sausages, and basil. Bring the sauce to a simmer. Partially cover the pot and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 2 hours. If the sauce becomes too thick, add a little more water. 5 Meanwhile, prepare the meatballs. When the sauce is almost done, add the meatballs to the sauce. Cook 30 minutes or until the sauce is thick and the meats are very tender. Remove the meats from the sauce and serve as a second course or separate meal. Serve the sauce hot. Cover and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 3 days or in the freezer up to 2 months. From "1,000 Italian Recipes." Copyright 2004 by Michele Scicolone. Used with permission of the publisher, Wiley Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

RAGU NAPOLETANO (NEAPOLITAN MEAT SAUCE)

Steps:

• In a large pasta pot or Dutch oven, heat the oil until smoking.
• Season the veal and beef with salt and pepper to taste and sear 5 or 6 pieces at a time over medium heat, until dark golden brown.
• Remove to a plate and repeat with remaining meat chunks (if using ground chuck, be sure to drain any excess grease from pan).
• Add the onion to the pan and sauté, scraping the pan with a wooden spoon to loosen any brown bits.
• Cook until the onions are golden brown and very soft, about 10 minutes.
• Add the wine, browned meat chunks, tomatoes, sausages, and pepper flakes and bring to a boil.
• Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook 2 ½-3 hours, stirring occasionally and skimming off the fat as necessary.
• Remove from the heat and remove meat and sausages from sauce.
• Cover well and save for another meal.
• Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper and allow to cool.