A ragu sauce usually contains tomatoes, garlic, carrots, celery, onion and spices. The meat is cooked by adding it to an already started sofritto; a sofritto is a mixture of chopped vegetables frying in olive oil. Our sofritto includes all of the vegetables except for the tomatoes. Cook the meat in the sofritto, then add the white wine. Simmer to reduce until the wine is almost totally absorbed. Add the tomatoes, broth and more spices if needed. Cover and simmer until the meat is tender. That's a ragu!
Street Cred Ragu
Ingredients:
- 1 ounce - dried mixed mushrooms
- 1 1/2 cups - boiling water
- 3 tablespoons - olive oil, divided
- 8 ounces - sliced baby bella mushrooms
- 3 cloves - garlic, minced
- salt
- 2 1/2 cups- dry white wine, divided
- 3 - slices applewood smoked bacon, pan fry, chop rough
- 5 - links, mild Italian turkey sausages, casings removed
- 2 - carrots, peeled, finely chopped
- 2 - celery stalks, finely chopped
- 1 - 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
- 1 - cup low-salt chicken broth
- 1 - 6 ounce can tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon - dried basil
Preparation:
Start this recipe by rehydrating the mushrooms. Place the dried mushrooms in a small bowl, pour 1 1/2 cups of boiling water over them. Allow to sit for about 45 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the mushrooms then chop coarsely. Reserve the soaking liquid; we'll add it later to the cooking broth providing some depth of flavor.
While waiting for the mushrooms to complete their soak we'll be doing other parts of the recipe.
Heat a tablespoon of oil in a large fry pan over medium-high heat. Add fresh crimini mushrooms and garlic: saute until beginning to soften, 2 to 3 minutes. Add 1/2 cup of wine, simmer until crimini mushrooms are soft, about 4 minutes. Set aside.
While the mushrooms and garlic are cooking we can also begin frying the bacon. In a large heavy pot fry the bacon to a crisp then remove from pot and chop coarsely. Drain the bacon fat from the pot but do not wash it as we want the bacon flavoring to extend into the next part of the recipe.
To the pot add 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the turkey sausages, casings removed. As the sausages cook break them apart into small pieces, about 5 minutes. Add the onion, carrot, and celery. Reduce heat to medium, cover the pot and cook until the vegetables are soft, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Add the remaining 2 cups wine, bring to a boil. While it's coming to a boil, stir and scrape the pot loosening any browned bits (this is called deglazing). Simmer until almost all the liquid is absorbed. Add tomatoes, 1 cup broth, dried basil, bay leaves and the coarsely chopped rehydrated mushrooms. Pour in the reserved dried mushroom soaking liquid, leaving any sediment behind in bowl. Bring back to a boil then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered, adding more broth if mixture becomes dry, about 1 hour.
Stir the crimini mushroom and garlic mixture into the pot. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Serve over your favorite pasta. This ragu would also be nice served over gnocchi. Check out this previous posting: Pneumatic Gnocchi.
Comments:
This is a nice basic ragu recipe. Don't be afraid to adjust the recipe in order to make it your own. Look again at the ingredient list and note the lack of onions and oregano. Perhaps your ragu would include these ingredients. Perhaps a broth made from stewed bones could also be well served here.
