Today I’m sharing my recipe for meat ragu, made with the exact same recipe as my mom’s.
To be honest, we usually call it meat sauce and not ragu, undoubtedly due to regional customs. And you? What do you call it in your area?
You know I rarely cook meat, it’s a fact now, but I haven’t become a vegetarian, an “accusation” often leveled at me by my kids, so I feel it’s reasonable to present this recipe to you today, right after the seitan with green pepper I proposed yesterday.
I stopped buying meat from big chains many years ago, for various reasons including, but not limited to, a personal form of intolerance towards intensive farming and the large-scale distribution of animal products. I’m not against large distribution, but I don’t like it applied to certain products, like meat: it bothers me to see certain spreads of wrapped meat that might go unsold, and this also applies to fish.
But I don’t want to become too serious tackling the topic of meat and farming, unfortunately, the issue of intensive farming is a serious one.
Back to the recipe, this is my mom’s recipe.
This same recipe, made by my mom or by me, leads to two similar, yet different results. 😊
My mom’s is amazing, and mine too, not to brag 😇 but it’s lighter and quicker.
The “lighter” part means “less oil.” The “quicker” part is because I don’t agree with the traditional grandma’s method that requires slow cooking over very low heat for hours, because I don’t think it necessarily turns out better, and mainly because I can’t afford to leave a pot on the stove for hours: I don’t have time on weekdays and can’t handle it, I confess, on holidays. But whenever I make it, it’s appreciated by everyone, even my mom. 😊 And that makes me feel calm and satisfied with my way of cooking.
☀️ Here are some other ragu recipes of mine, of various types:
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Medium
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All Seasons
Ingredients
- 14 oz ground beef
- 17.6 oz tomato puree
- 1 carrot
- 1 stalk celery
- Half golden onion
- 1 cinnamon stick (small piece)
- 2 cloves
- 1 shot glass red wine (white will do in a pinch)
- 1 tbsp oil
- pepper
- basil or parsley
Tools
- Steel pan
Steps
Chop the onion, carrot, and celery. By hand or with a mixer.
Sauté in oil. For the amount of oil, decide for yourself (are you like me or like our moms? 😊).
Add the ground meat.
Mash the meat with a fork and mix.
Add the cloves, the piece of cinnamon, and pepper to taste.
Deglaze with the wine and let it evaporate.
👉 When I use cloves and cinnamon, I usually use parsley. With basil, I prefer to reduce or completely remove spices.
👉 If the meat ragu is intended to dress gnocchi, then I remove the spices and use rosemary instead of basil or parsley, as I really like rosemary in ragu with gnocchi.
☝ When the meat is browned and practically cooked through, this is the point where those who use salt could add it, but I naturally skip this step.
Pour in the tomato puree.
Stir, cover with a lid, and cook for half an hour. If you feel it’s necessary, you can continue cooking for up to an hour, depending on the type of tomato puree used.
Check occasionally. Using little oil, you will probably need to soften once or twice with a few tablespoons of water (perhaps from the pasta).
You can use more or less puree to taste. As you can see from the following photos, the amount of tomato also determines the final appearance.
Optionally, you can add some oil at the end of cooking, better a drizzle of raw oil at the end than when sautéing.
And after giving you this last health-conscious tip, I can only recommend my meat ragu for your tagliatelle, strozzapreti, lasagna, or simply your rigatoni. If you’re dressing gnocchi, try it with rosemary, and then let me know if you like it.
Unfortunately, I don’t have a plate of pasta to show you because after photographing the ragu… my crew wanted to eat! And who can blame them? 😃
Salt-Free Tips
Remember, my meat ragu, like all my recipes, is without added salt. 😊
If you’re interested in reducing or eliminating salt, always remember to:
▫ Gradually decrease the salt, the palate needs to gradually get used to it and should not notice the progressive reduction.
▫ Use spices. Chili, pepper, curry, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, cumin…
▫ Use aromatic herbs. Basil, parsley, oregano, thyme, sage, marjoram, rosemary, mint…
▫ Use seeds. Sesame, pine nuts, almonds, walnuts…
▫ Use spicy vegetables or fruit. Garlic, onion, lemon, orange…
▫ Use my salt-free vegetable granulate
▫ Prefer fresh foods.
▫ Avoid cooking in water, prefer methods that don’t disperse flavors (grill, foil, steam, microwave)
▫ Avoid bringing the salt shaker to the table!
▫ Occasionally allow yourself to break the rule. It’s good for your mood and helps with perseverance.
If you don’t want or can’t give up salt:
▫ You can still try my recipes salting according to your habits.
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