The Genoese Ragout is a white sauce, based on onions and meat: the two main ingredients are simmered in wine until a fragrant sauce is achieved that awakens every appetite!

Its secret is the slow cooking, which results in a creamy and enveloping sauce, with a bold taste, with the sweet notes of the onion. A true masterpiece!

It is a white ragout, thus without tomatoes; simple: because it is based on onions not on meat. Speaking of meat, we will use a “bell” (beef shank). Or another piece of beef… any type of meat we want, usually stew meat. The ratio of onions to meat is normally three to one.

And over time, the recipe has entered the homes of housewives, and each one, never disregarding the two fundamental ingredients and the very long cooking time, has then made their own modifications to obtain their family recipe.

Indeed… you should know that every family has its secret about what to add or not, I have my mother-in-law’s recipe.

How to prepare the Genoese ragout. This recipe is a family one passed down from my grandmother to my mother-in-law Lina and now to me.

It is a substantial white ragout prepared with lots of onions. Cooking for a long time, these white onions break down to become a very tasty cream, very flavorful and sweet.

During the long cooking, these turn into a delicious puree, very flavorful with a pronounced sweet note.

The Genoese ragout is amazing: the meat cooks for hours until it becomes very tender.

Now let’s get to work because we need to chop these onions!

So, let’s see together how to prepare a Genoese properly.

Difficulty: Very Easy
Cost: Medium
Preparation time: 15 Minutes
Portions: 10
Cooking methods: Stove
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: All Seasons

203.01 Kcal

calories per serving

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Energy 203.01 (Kcal)
Carbohydrates 13.80 (g) of which sugars 3.98 (g)
Proteins 18.22 (g)
Fat 8.17 (g) of which saturated 2.93 (g)of which unsaturated 3.43 (g)
Fibers 1.93 (g)
Sodium 1,352.84 (mg)

Indicative values for a portion of 90 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA^* and FoodData Central^** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.

^* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ^** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov

Ingredients for the Genoese Ragout

2.2 lbs beef
4.4 lbs yellow onion
carrot (2)
2 tbsp butter
to taste olive oil
1 glass red wine
1 potato
to taste salt
pepper

Tools

Pot
Cutting Board
Peeler
Bowl
Lid

Preparation of Genoese Ragout

Let’s prepare the Genoese sauce, the Sunday dish for which we usually rise at dawn to enjoy an excellent plate of pasta.

Clean the onions
Finely chop the onions.
Peel and wash the potato and two carrots.
Cut the meat into chunks neither too small nor too large; they should also be all the same size to achieve fairly even cooking.
Put a large pot on the stove, heat oil with butter.
Then add the meat to the sauté.
Brown the meat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally with a spoon.
Deglaze with a glass of red wine over medium heat, let the wine evaporate, brown well.
Remove the pieces of meat from the pot, set them aside on a plate and let them rest covered.
After removing the meat, add the finely chopped onions, stir and let them season. Incorporate the two carrots (if you want, cut them into pieces otherwise leave them whole).
Add a medium-sized whole potato to help eliminate the acidity from the onion. Season with salt.
Add hot water to cover the ingredients by a few inches.
Cook on low heat for 5 hours (the sauce should simmer gently).
After 2 hours, add the pieces of meat that were set aside and let cook for another 2 hours, the flavors should blend, and the onion should become creamy, taste and adjust the salt.
If you want, you can leave the potato and mash it with a fork, otherwise remove it, as it has fulfilled its purpose (we added the potato to remove the acidity).
For the carrots, if you have cut them into pieces, good, otherwise remove them if they are whole.
After the indicated time, uncover the ragout and continue cooking for another hour on low heat to let it dry.
Once ready, adjust the ragout with salt and pepper and serve immediately.
Enjoy your meal.

Tips

The Genoese sauce is an extraordinary condiment for pasta; it is also true that the cooking hours are many, but I recommend making more sauce and freezing once cold in suitable containers; when needed, take it out of the freezer and let it thaw in the fridge (or in a saucepan in a water bath).

I recommend excellent homemade bread for doing the ‘scarpetta’, with this dish it is a must.

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