Neapolitan Style Ragu Recipes

NEAPOLITAN-STYLE RAGU RECIPE

Steps:

• Season the pork all over with 1 teaspoon salt and pepper to taste.
• In a food processor, chop together parsley, onions, garlic, pancetta and prosciutto to make a very coarse paste.
• Heat the olive oil in a casserole over medium-low heat. Add the seasoning paste and another teaspoon of salt and cook until the paste is fragrant and no more liquid appears when it is stirred, about 7 minutes.
• Add the pork roast, cover and reduce the heat to low. Cook, turning every 15 minutes, until the meat is lightly browned and the onions have begun to color, about 1 hour.
• Add the red wine, loosely cover and continue cooking until the wine reduces to a thick sauce, about 1 hour, stirring occasionally. If, after 1 hour and 15 minutes, the wine has not reduced sufficiently, remove the roast to a plate, increase the heat to medium-high, and cook the sauce until it thickens.
• Over low heat, stir in the tomato paste, 2 or 3 tablespoons at a time, stirring in each addition until it mixes into the sauce and darkens to a brick color. Stir in the crushed tomatoes, return the roast to the pan if previously removed, and cover and continue to cook, turning the meat every 30 minutes and stirring the sauce until the meat is tender enough to be easily pierced with a meat fork, 2 to 2 1/2 hours. If the sauce dries out too much and the meat begins to stick to the bottom of the pan, stir in a tablespoon or two of water.
• Remove the roast to a plate and keep warm until ready to serve. Crumble the Italian sausage into the sauce and cook until the sauce is extremely dark, unctuous, shiny and thick, stirring occasionally, about another hour. (The dish can be prepared to this point and refrigerated overnight.)
• Cook the pasta in plenty of rapidly boiling, heavily salted water. Warm the sauce if it has been refrigerated.
• When the pasta is cooked but still slightly chewy, drain it and toss it in a bowl with the butter. Spoon over half of the sauce and toss just to coat lightly. Transfer to a serving bowl and spoon more sauce over top. Sprinkle over the Parmigiano-Reggiano and pass more on the side.

NEAPOLITAN STYLE RAGU

Steps:

• Heat olive oil in a large 6qt heavy bottomed sauté pan (make sure you have a tight fitting lid for later or worst case scenario, be prepared to later cover your pan tightly with foil) over medium-high heat.
• Pat the meat dry with paper towels to remove any moisture. Season the meat with salt and ground pepper and brown both sides in your heated pan. When the meat hits the pan it should sizzle. If it does not sizzle, it means your pan is not hot enough. Alternatively, if your pan is too hot, the olive oil will start smoking and, then well, you can start a nice little kitchen fire. Just keep the pan on medium/high heat, throw in one cube of beef as a test and if it makes a friendly but not aggressive sizzle, add the rest of your beef. The beef should fit in one layer with plenty of space in your pan. Based on the size of your pan, you may need to brown the meat in two sets. If your meat is over crowded it will steam and not brown which is no good for this sauce. (If you want to know why from a more authoritative scientific source than me, go look up Harold McGee + Maillard Reaction.).
• Once you have browned all of your beef, remove and place in shallow bowl so as to collect accumulated juices. Turn the heat slightly down to medium and add diced pork to the pan, allowing it to render fat but not brown (about three minutes).
• Add diced onion to pork, coat in fat and cook until translucent, but not brown, (about three to five minutes depending on how finely you have diced your onion). Stir occasionally with a wooden spoon to prevent browning.
• Once the onion is translucent and NOT one moment before, add the garlic. If you add the garlic too soon it will quickly burn and ruin your entire sauce. If there is one way to ruin a meal and simultaneously piss off the entire country of Italy, it is too serve sauce with burnt garlic. Stir the garlic in the pork/onion mixture for about 60 seconds. If the garlic is starting to turn golden, add the wine, like, NOW!
• Now that you have a mixture of fat, onion and garlic in your skillet, you have what is called a soffritto in Italian. Slowly add the wine to your soffritto. Deglaze the pan by stirring with a wooden spoon to release all the brown bits that are probably sticking to it by now. The wine should reduce by one half.
• When your wine is finished reducing, return the beef and its accumulated juices to the pan and add the whole tomatoes and their juices.
• Add the oregano, bay leaf (and if you have it, the outer rind of parmesan cheese), stir the beef to coat with sauce mixture and bring to a boil.
• Once you have brought your ragù to a boil, lower the heat to a faint simmer, cover and cook for three hours. Ever so occasionally stir the sauce with a wooden spoon and break down the whole tomatoes as you stir. If you find that your ragù is drying out a bit you can add ½ cup of cold water and stir to incorporate. (NOTE: if you want to make this sauce in a slow cooker you can prepare through this step and then put in the slow cooker according to manufacturer instructions: generally on low setting for six hours and high setting for three hours. Don't worry about stirring throughout braising process with this method but make sure to break up the tomatoes when the sauce is done slow cooking).
• When your ragù has simmered for about three hours, it's time to bring your pasta water to a rolling boil. Add salt to the boiling pasta water. For most Italians, the rule of thumb is 1 liter of water for every 100 grams of pasta, and add to that 10 grams of salt (known as the 1000/ 100/ 10 ratio of water/pasta/salt). If you want to actually measure out your water, salt and pasta go for it. I just bring a lot of water to boil, add a generous amount of salt and test to see if the water tastes brackish.
• Once the salted pasta water is boiling viciously, add the penne, stir with fork so they don't stick together and cook to al dente (usually about ten minutes for penne, and you can always taste the pasta if you are unsure). Do not be tempted to add olive oil to your boiling water. It will create an oil slick that will prevent the ragù from adhering to the pasta. You only add olive oil to fresh pasta, which is more delicate and has a tendency to clump together without the aid of olive oil.
• When penne is cooked to al dente, drain it immediately and reserve about five tablespoons of pasta water.
• Uncover your ragù, remove the bay leaf/ parmesan rind. Now add the drained penne and the reserved pasta water immediately (do not allow the pasta to rest and thusly become flaccid in a colander).
• Raise the heat to medium high and stir with a wooden spoon to coat penne with sauce. If you are dexterous in the wrist, instead of stirring the pasta to coat you can flip it in the pan (this is the preferred Neapolitan method). Stir and cook for about one minute. This step of mixing the pasta and ragù is critical as it coats the pasta with the sauce and creates a unified dish.
• Plate your penne ragù (I prefer using a shallow bowl), add a few gratings of Parmesan to taste, basil garnish and serve warm with bread.

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.

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.

FETTUCCINE WITH NEAPOLITAN MEAT SAUCE (FETTUCCINE CON RAGU ALLA NAPOLETANA)

Steps:

• 1. In a heavy 5-quart pot over moderately high heat, heat the oil until hot but not smoking. Season the beef with salt and sear it, turning occasionally, until deep brown on all sides, about 10 minutes. Add the chile, garlic, and onion, and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the onion begins to tenderize, about 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste, wine, and tomatoes, and bring to a boil.
• 2. Cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid, reduce the heat to low, and simmer until the meat is very tender, 3 to 4 hours. The finished sauce should be a deep, rich red color. (The sauce is ready to combine with the fettuccine now, or you can cool and store it in the refrigerator up to 4 days.)
• 3. Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil. Add the fettuccine and stir to submerge and separate it. Cook according to the package directions until al dente.
• 4. Drain the fettuccine, shaking well to remove any excess water, and transfer to a large serving bowl. Add the sauce and toss together until the pasta is evenly coated. Serve at once with the braised meat as desired.