Genovese pasta! A first course to savor every bite.

It’s a type of white ragù made with lots of onions that, when slowly cooked, melt into a sauce that is nothing short of wonderful.

Every Neapolitan family has its own recipe, created according to personal taste, this is mine.

An excellent first course from the Campania tradition, an alternative to the classic ragù.

The Genovese sauce is a white sauce based on onions and beef, typical of Neapolitan cuisine. Its cooking requires long times, allowing the meat to soften while cooking with the onion.

Onions may or may not be liked; I love them very much, and that’s why Genovese is one of my favorite Neapolitan dishes.

Few and very simple ingredients, lots of patience and care in preparation.
My husband Massimiliano grew up with this dish.

The first time I ate this dish was at my mother-in-law Lina’s house, what can I say, a tasty dish and the meat after the many hours of cooking was uniquely tender, the onion was sweet and flavorful, an exceptional dish.

I used beef shank. Another thing to pay attention to is the quality of the onion to use. In this preparation, you should use golden onions or ‘old’ onions… using the right cut of meat and the right onion, you’ll have a dish that will make everyone at the table lick their lips.

Anyone can use the pasta format they prefer, but tradition has it that ziti go wonderfully with this delicious sauce. We usually use ridged pasta as it seems the sauce clings better.

I would call it a single dish by also eating the meat as a second course, serving the pasta with just the onion sauce and some pieces of meat, those that have flaked during cooking.

Advice (The types of meat we can use for this dish are various, one of them is what in Neapolitan is called ‘lacierto’ that is the round of thigh: it’s a lean veal meat, very tender with little fat.

Another type of meat used is from the final part of the beef’s back, called Scamone, also very tender and lean. Another type again is a ‘second category’ cut in Naples called ‘Corazza’, which is the muscle part).

Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Medium
Preparation time: 25 Minutes
Portions: 6
Cooking methods: Stovetop
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: All seasons

Ingredients for Genovese Pasta

1.76 lbs beef (muscle type family piece)
golden onion (three and a third pounds)
carrots (2 medium)
1 potato (medium)
2 tbsps butter
as needed olive oil
as needed salt
1 cup dry white wine
pepper
1.32 lbs pasta (penne, sedani, ziti, etc.)
as needed Parmigiano Reggiano DOP

Tools

2 Pots
Cutting Board
Knife
Colander
Peeler

Preparation of Genovese Pasta

Clean the onions
Finely slice the onions.
Peel and wash one potato and two carrots.
In a large saucepan, heat a little extra virgin olive oil with a knob of butter; add the pieces of meat and brown them for a few minutes, turning them often.
Deglaze with the white wine and let it evaporate over high heat.
Remove the pieces of meat from the pot, set them aside on a plate, and let them rest covered.
After removing the meat. (We keep it aside).
Add the finely sliced onions, stir and let them flavor, incorporating the two carrots (if you want, cut them into pieces, otherwise leave them whole).
Add a medium-sized potato whole, it helps remove the acidity from the onion. Adjust the salt.
Add hot water until the ingredients are covered by a few inches.
Cook over low heat for 3 hours (the sauce should simmer gently).
After 3 hours, add the pieces of meat that we had set aside and let them cook for another 2 hours. The flavors should meld, the onion should become creamy, taste and adjust salt and pepper.
If you want, leave the potato, mash it with a fork, otherwise remove it, its job is done (we added the potato to remove the acidity).
As for the carrots, if you cut them into pieces, great, otherwise, if they are whole, remove them.
After 5 hours, here is the Genovese sauce.
To determine the right cooking, consider that the color of the onions should be amber brown and the meat should be tender.
Meanwhile, cook pasta such as penne, macaroni, or broken ziti, drain it and put it in the pan with the sauce.
Mix for a couple of minutes and sprinkle with a little parmesan.
Enjoy your meal…

Advice

The Genovese sauce is an extraordinary pasta condiment, it is also true that the cooking time is long, but I recommend making more sauce and freezing it once cold in appropriate containers, when needed, remove from the freezer and let it thaw in the fridge (or in a saucepan in a bain-marie).

I suggest an excellent homemade bread to mop up the sauce, with this dish, it’s essential to clean the plate.

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Can I use a pressure cooker

Yes, certainly the times are halved.