Italian Style Ragú With Penne Rigate Pasta From The Careless Cook

 

Italian Style Ragú With Penne Rigate Pasta From The Careless Cook

 

This is the best pasta dish I’ve ever made and one of the best I’ve ever tasted, including those in Rome.  Simple to make, nutritious and the clean up was very simple.  Matter of fact, I was able to sit and have another glass of wine while my wife cleaned the kitchen! 

 

Well, not the whole glass.  A broom spilled a lot of it down the front of my shirt.

 

Where did I get the idea for this ragú?  From a book by the actor, S. T., but that’s enough of a hint.  I’ll blog about the excellent, breezy, humorous, and delicious book soon.

 

As usual, The Careless Cook did not waste time following the recipe as written.  But, close.  Hey, every Italian mother has her own version, so why not me?

 

You may already know this, but for my three faithful readers who often have a loss of memory after …. Well, I can’t remember when, but often.

Anyway, here’s what the Italian cooks say about pasta:  Ogni salsa ha la sua pasta!  (O-knee salsa-la soo-a pasta!) Every sauce has its own pasta.

 

Ok, I made that up.  BUT, it’s true.  Certain pastas for certain sauces. Don’t mix and match….’cause with mixin’ there ain’t no matchin’!

 

In a dish like ragú, which has a rather thin sauce, you want pasta with ridges to catch all the flavors.

Italian Style Ragú With Penne Rigate Pasta

(feel free to use any other ridged pasta, such as Rigatoni)

Oven to 250ºF

 

Ingredients

 

A slosh of olive oil (Several times, as needed.)

1 onion diced

1 large carrot diced (I used colorful carrots and left some cut in rounds)

1 large stalk celery diced

4 oz diced pancetta (usually comes in a packet) 

¾ lbs lean hamburger meat

6 oz pork, finely diced, or use ground pork

¾ cup dry red wine

2 cups chicken broth (I used Tuscan style)

2 tablespoons tomato paste (I used tomato paste from a tube)

handful of fresh basil

handful of fresh oregano

(No herb garden?  Use dried herbs to taste.)

 

16 oz package Penne Rigate pasta

NOTE: No garlic on the list.  Quite often, Italian cooks do not put both onion and garlic in the same dish, although in the U.S. we commonly do.

 

Putin’ It Together

 

Use a large frying pan with a lid. This makes a meal for four to six folks.

 

Put a slosh of olive oil in the frying pan and add the onion and pancetta. Cook until onions are limp and pancetta is slightly browned.

 

Add the other two meats and stir occasionally until cooked.

 

Add the other vegetables and stir.

 

Add the wine, chicken stock, tomato paste and herbs. Bring to a simmer.

 

Cover the pan and place in the oven for an hour and a half.

 

Meanwhile, make the pasta in a large pot, according to package directions.  My directions called for 12-14 minutes.  I like my pasta a little past al dente, so I went the full 14 minutes.

 

Set aside two cups of pasta water and strain the pasta.  Why save the pasta water?  When you mix in the sauce, the pasta will soak up much of the thin sauce and you may want to add it to any pasta left over.

 

Toss in another slosh of olive oil and stir.  

 

Add the sauce to the pot of pasta and mix well.

 

In serving, add a couple of basil leaves for garnish.

 

And, don’t forget to fill all the glasses of red wine! Hey, this is an Italian meal!

 

You’ll note there is no mention of cheese, grated or not.  The Careless Cook sez: This here dish is too damn delicious to mess it up with cheese!

A word or two about my blog: Some folks have had a tough time trying to subscribe.  On the right side of the blog page, about halfway up, you will see “Followers and a group of photos.”  Click on “follow” below the photos. That should do the trick.

 

If you want to leave comments, you must also do it on a computer at the bottom of the page.  You have several choices you can use to comment. If you are reading the blog on an email, you must first go to the blog page.

 

 

 

Throw Together Spaghetti

Throw Together Spaghetti

These days you have all the time in the world to plan a meal, but there’s always a catch.  Today, the catch was I had plenty of stuff on hand, too much to warrant a trip to the grocers. Doesn’t sound like much of a catch, but I also had no plan.

See, I’m a guy who likes to dine, not just eat. So, I searched the cupboards and refig and saw some things that piqued my interest.

I decided on spaghetti, but there was no way to overcome my prideful exuberance and just pour some red sauce over noodles.  Some things just aren’t done in my kitchen.

Didn’t want a cream or cheese sauce either.  Much too much of a cliché.

What I came up with was something that even my fastidious significant other declared to be a tolerable dish.  High praise indeed from someone who eats pizza with a knife and fork and insists that I make salad dressing and bake my own biscuits for breakfast.  Well, it wasn’t breakfast time and there was no lettuce, so that simplified the matter.

I’m a simple man, with exquisitely simple tastes.   But, just to be sure I was on the right track, try this recipe yourself, making your own changes to suit what your pantry holds.

Throw Together Spaghetti

1 Pound ground pork

½ Sweet onion, diced

1 Regular sized colorful sweet bell pepper or a few baby bells, diced

Many good shakes of Italian Rustic herbs (list provided on a photo below)

A full package of whichever spaghetti noodles you have on hand (cooked according to package directions

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Slosh in a goodly amount of olive oil in a medium to large skillet.  Cook the ground pork, breaking it up as much as possible.  Add the diced onions.

When the onion is translucent, add the chopped bell pepper and the seasonings.  Stir repeatedly, then pour in ¾ cup of water to steam the mixture until all the water evaporates.  Take the mixture off the stove.

Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti.  When done, drain and add olive oil to the pot.  Put the spaghetti back in the pot and stir.  Add more oil if you want, then add the sauce.  Mix well.

Serve with a toss of Parmesan and some sliced green onions.

Now pour yourself some Italian wine, white or red, your choice.

A throw together meal that’s fast and easy and one you won’t forget.

Saluti!   

Carrot, Eggplant, Sausage Pasta Sauce

Carrot, Eggplant, Sausage Pasta Sauce 

Let’s not mess around.  Grab your apron!  Time to get right to it!

2 Large eggplants, halved and roasted in a 400ºF oven (200º C).  Allow to cool and scrape out the meat.  Discard the skin.  Hint: I used a spray of Pam olive oil to keep the eggplant from soaking up too much oil.

2 Cans cooked carrots, with juice, about 28 ounces or 800 grams

3/4 Pound of loose Italian sausage, crumbled

1  Medium sized sweet onion, diced

5-6 Cloves of garlic, chopped

Small bunches each of fresh rosemary and sage, chopped

3-4 Good shakes of cinnamon

3 Teaspoons paprika for color.

1 Can coconut milk (Not coconut cream, or the sweetened style coconut cream)

Note: Chicken stock for thinning the mixture, if necessary.  I didn’t use any.

Salt and pepper to taste

Get your sous-chef to open a bottle of wine and pour you a glass.

If you’re a fainthearted cook, stop right here.  For this dish I used the TLAR method, That Looks About Right. If you’re a cook who worships the perfection of precise numbers, you’re on your own.

I put everything, but the sausage and coconut milk in my food processor and got it as close to a fine liquid as I could.  If you want to add the coconut milk as well, go ahead.  My machine wasn’t big enough!

Note: Don’t bother to clean the machine yet.  You’ll need it in a minute or two to shred the sausage.

Pour the mixture in a large pot, on medium heat, and stir in the coconut milk, if you haven’t already.  Put a top on the pot, but leave space for the steam to escape.  Stir from time to time to keep it from sticking on the bottom. Once the mixture gets to a boil, reduce the heat to simmer.  Taste and season.  All the ingredients are already cooked, so you’re heating it to let the flavors meld. 

The mixture is going to be thick, and as it cooks it will get thicker.

While the sauce cooks, fry the crumbled sausage in another pan until it is cooked through.  Drain off the grease, add the sausage to the food processor and turn it into a fine mince.  Pour it in the mixture in the pot and stir well.

Now you can clean the food processor and I have a splendid two word solution:  “Hey sous-chef!”

Serve over spaghetti! I used zucchini spaghetti.

But you say, “Not a pasta fan.”  Well, I have good news.  Often the difference between soup and sauce is all in what you like to call your mind! Try a bowl of this wonderful stuff all by itself!  Add some freshly diced onion, a big squeeze of fresh lemon and some Sriracha hot sauce! Delicious! 

Time to top off that glass of wine before you dig into this absolutely delicious, creamy and exciting pasta sauce or soup or creamy vegetable stew!