Self isolating at home can also mean having some extra time to prepare food that takes a long time to cook, requires a little attention and a lot of love... and maybe a glass of wine and some singing too.
Welcome everyone. This is a place where I like to spend time... this blog, you may ask? No, my kitchen. Especially now that we are all stuck at home for the better part of the day (except the occasional walk for exercise), I have rediscovered the pleasure of cooking... I think... Anyway... I have decided to share a few recipes I have been making for many years. The first one is the noble Neapolitan Ragù.
Let's start with some pictures...
Neapolitan Ragù (Easy version, with ingredients easily found in the US)
This sauce is a staple of Neapolitan cuisine. The great cook and food historian Jeanne Caròla-Francesconi, in her famous book La Cucina Napoletana, gives many different versions of it. Some are very old and are made with ingredients that are difficult to find even in Italy, like "sugna", (a type of lard) instead of olive oil. I've always made a version similar to what my grandmother, Titina, used to make. Most of the steps--and there are not many--are the same as those laid out by the Caròla-Francesconi.
Ingredients for 4 people:
For the sauce
- 2 pounds of beef short ribs (possibly with bone and cut in big chunks)
- 2 pounds of Italian sweet sausages
- 2 Tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 cartons of Pomì organic strained tomatoes (26 Oz each)
- Half a cup of red wine
- Diced Fiorucci pancetta (one tablespoon)
- One garlic clove, peeled
- Salt for sauce and for cooking pasta
- Secret ingredient: a small pinch of cinnamon
Pasta: one pound of Rigatoni or Paccheri or Penne rigate, or whatever short pasta you like (not spaghetti or any long pasta... though, if you really like it, just make that. It's your pasta!)
Preparation:
If you want to eat this for Sunday lunch, which in Napoli means around 2pm, you must start cooking early. I have seen my grandad get up at 7am on Sunday to start the sauce, so it could be eaten by 2pm, about 7 hours later. Ideally one should cook it the day before, on Saturday, degrease it a bit, once it's cooled down, and reheat it on Sunday for lunch.
1- First of all, put the garlic clove, the olive oil and the pancetta in the pot (a heavy sauce pot, like my Le Creuset, even better if it's green like mine). Let the pancetta and the garlic cook for 2 to 3 minutes...
2- Add the short ribs, to brown them on all sides. I had them delivered (self isolation, remember?), so they came whole. It would have been better to have them cut in three chucks. But they look good, anyway.
3- Pour the red wine in the pot, let evaporate, while stirring a bit. Scrape the bottom of the pot.
Don't forget to drink some of the wine you used. I used a Malbec from Argentina, in honor of my wife's Marina family origins.
After you drink some wine, it's time to pour in the tomatoes!
4- Pour in both cartons of Pomì, put some water in the empty cartons, swish it around and pour in the pot as well. Not too much water. Then let cook for at least 1 and a half hours. Oh, and add a pinch of salt... but again, not too much, we will adjust that at the end.
Cover the pot and adjust the heat so that the sauce can cook slowly... it should make a lovely noise, in Southern Italy we call it "pippiare"... the popping sound of a good ragù cooking. It's comforting. And so is the beautiful smell that will fill your kitchen (and maybe your entire house, depending on the size) for the next few hours. Below you'll find an example of pippiare...
5- After 1 and 1/2 hour of cooking (pippiando), add the sausages, after you have poked them with a fork. Just poke them, make a few small holes, but be nice to them. Submerge them in the tomato sauce and add the pinch of cinnamon (but don't let anyone see you doing that, otherwise it's no longer a secret ingredient. That's why there's no picture of me adding the cinnamon)
6- Let the mixture cook for as long as you can... maybe another 2 to 3 hours. This is not a sauce for the faint of heart or for the rushed cook. It takes time, time and more time. The sauce has to taste like the meat we used, and look almost viscous.
Ok, time now to talk a bit about the meat... I really like short ribs, they are very flavorful and give out a lot of flavor to the sauce. Same goes for the sausages. However, you can choose whatever meat you prefer. Some people use pork (maybe pork shoulder or butt, or ribs), or beef chuck, or they don't use sausages, or they prepare small rolls with thin sliced beef rolled around some garlic, eggs, parsley and bread, called "braciole"... Plenty of choices, depending on your taste... one choice you can't make is not using meat. This is not a vegetarian sauce.
This is what it looks like after about 2 and 1.2 hours of cooking. Not ready yet.
Remember, the ragù needs some attention while it cooks. You can't leave the house, and you should, from time to time, stir it, make sure all is well with it, show some love to this noble sauce. If you can, take the time to sing a little song to it... here's an example.
7- Once the ragù is cooked, you will have to cook the pasta. But first, how do we know the ragù is indeed ready? Well, we have to taste it. If the tomatoes have lost all acidity, if the flavor of the meat is definitely there, if the texture is satisfying, then it's ready. Here's Marina tasting after 3 and 1/2 hours of cooking. Not quite ready...
And now, the pasta: Let's assume that everyone knows how to make pasta, but let me give you a few of tips, Neapolitan style. - Use a big pot with lots of water. Salt well. I use kosher salt.
- Drain the past a good 2 minutes before whatever cooking time is indicated on the packaging. That's real "al dente". Again, if you prefer mushy pasta, that's ok, I don't have to eat it. It's your pasta!
- Buy good quality pasta. It does not need to be expensive. I don't think some of those artisan pastas are worth the $7 markets charge for it. Look for De Cecco, or Garofalo or La Molisana. They are all excellent and they all cost less than $3 per package. Those are 3 bucks very well spent.
Here's the pasta I used tonight. It cooked 12 minutes.
The final result, after almost 4 hours on the stove. Tomorrow it will be even better. But, I'm going to have some today...
How do you eat this?
In Naples we eat first the pasta with the sauce, no meat on the plate. Just pasta and sauce and some grated Parmigiano Reggiano. <In some special occasion I add cut up mozzarella on my plate. Mozzarella in Naples is a miraculously good cheese. Impossible to find here. Once the quarantine is over, I suggest you all travel to Naples to taste some mozzarella. It will change your life.>
After the primo (first course, the pasta with the sauce) we eat the meat, with a side of greens, normally cooked greens, like sautéed broccoli rabe (we call those "friarielli"), or sometimes a fresh salad, tossed with some olive oil, salt and lemon juice.
Wine: any good wine goes with this dish. Perhaps not too full bodied. A red from the Campania region (Naples is the capital of that region), like a good Aglianico, would be ideal. Those are hard to find in the US. So maybe a good Valpolicella, or even a French Burgundy. Anyway, you don't even have to have wine. Sparkling water is just fine.
Here's what some of like looked like on my plate tonight.
And a final version with meat and some zucchini...
Buon appetito and until next recipe. Stay safe. Ciao ciao!
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