Ragù: an ode to slowness

Christmas in Val d’Orcia is definitely not white! No, it has rather earthy tones of the naked fields and the woods of downy oak, and their golden foliage. December is one of the months with more rain and this year is no exception. Nonetheless the festive atmosphere crawled in our home and I got along with the decorations, prepared the Christmas tree and Matthias and I baked five different sorts of traditional German “plätzchen” (cookies)!
We also prepared boxes of little gifts to send to our relatives (we are of course too late!!) and while we listened to music and packed presents I had a batch of meat sauce simmering on the stove…

The secret for an outstanding result is patience! The sauce takes just a few ingredients, but needs time and time to be ready, to let all the ingredients blend into a juicy, consistent and heart-melting dressing!

It’s ideal for accompanying pasta dishes, like tagliatelle, pici or ravioli, but we in winter you can try it with polenta as well!
Here is our recipe, the one you’ve enjoyed many times at Il Rigo, but that is just as good when is prepared upstairs, in our homy kitchen.

Ragù

Ingredients (this recipe serves 6-8 persons, but I suggest to double at least the dose and than freeze or can it):

500 gr minced beef
2 Tuscan sausages (or 100 gr ground pork, seasoned with some dried fennel flowers and black pepper)
1 bay leaf
1 Onion, 2 carrots and 2 celery sticks
chicken stock or hot water
tomato puree (passata) 400gr
1 glass of red wine
salt and pepper

Remove the skin from the sausages and mix them with the minced beef.
Cover the bottom of a large pot with olive oil. Once hot, pour in the meat: try to divide it with your hands to cover evenly the bottom and let it brown. At this stage reist to the the temptation to continuously stirring. After 5 minutes stir with a wooden spoon and let cook until all the liquid of the meat is absorbed and the meat starts to sizzle.
Moisten with the wine and add salt, and the finely chopped onion, carrots and celery.
Add the tomato passata and 1 or two cups of stock. Low the flame and let it simmer for about 2 hours (but even 3) adding water or stock, and stirring every so often, to avoid sticking.

Dress your pasta or, once cooled down, divide it in bags to freeze or jar it in sterilized glasses and boil them for 30 min to seal them. This way you can hold it for at least an year (read a bit about it before you do that, as there are risks connected with this procedure. Here is a quick wiki-how for canned tomatoes, but you can apply the same rules for ragù)

We hope these recipes with light up your mood, and will bring some memories of your stay in Tuscany to your homes!

A big hug from the hills and BUON APPETITO