Recipe of the Week: Meat Ragu

My son loves this sauce. I tend to make a large batch, and stick a container in the freezer for easy weeknight dinners. My favourite pasta with this is tagliatelle or pappardelle. The sauce clings to the noodle and gets tangled up in a beautiful nest. The fennel pollen is what makes it special - we carry it regularly at our Kensington location.

Meat Ragu

Makes 2 L

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 large carrot, peeled and grated
1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground pork
2 mild Italian sausage, meat taken out of its casing
To taste salt and pepper
1 tsp fennel pollen
1 jar tomato passata (puree)

Method:

1)  Pour the oil into a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and sweat until translucent: about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and grated carrot, stir well, and continue cooking until the carrots are soft. 

2) Add the beef, pork, and sausage meat, and stir well. You want to break apart all the chunks of meat as best you can. Add the salt and pepper, and when the meat is cooked, taste and add more salt if needed.

3) Add the fennel pollen and the tomato passata. Stir well, cover with a tight fitting lid, and reduce the heat to low. The sauce should just be simmering. Simmer, stirring every 10 minutes or so, for two hours. 

4) If using right away, cook your pasta in plenty of salted boiling water. Ladle some of the sauce into a smaller saucepan, bring to a simmer, and adjust for seasoning. Grate some fresh Parmigiano Reggiano cheese directly into the sauce, then add the al dente cooked pasta with 2 tbsp or so of the starchy pasta cooking water. Simmer for a minute to allow the sauce to coat the pasta, then serve.