Ragu bolognese/Болонское рагу
Пока пишу про болонское рагу и его историю по итальянским источникам, решила начать с конца и в первую очередь выпустить на сцену англоязычных авторов.
Все тексты на английском.
Итальянцы-пишущие по-английски:
Marcella Hazan
Giorgio Locatelli
Mario Batali
Biba Cagiano
Lidia Bastianich
Giuliano Bugially
Julia Della Croce
Прочие авторы:
Claudia Roden
Heston Blumenthal
Waverley Root
Elisabeth Lluard
Elisabeth David
James Peterson
Marcus Wareing
Mark Bittman
UPDATE: Добавлена адская тетка Nancy Silverston.
*краткую рецензию на ее книгу The Mozza Cookbook писала ранее.
И в подарок - моя любимая игрушка)
Все 16 рецептов под катом.
1. MARCELLA HAZAN
Bolognese Meat Sauce
Из книги « Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking»
Ragù, as the Bolognese call their celebrated meat sauce, is characterized by mellow, gentle, comfortable flavor that any cook can achieve by being careful about a few basic points:
- The meat should not be from too lean a cut; the more marbled it is, the sweeter the ragù will be. The most desirable cut of beef is the neck portion of the chuck.
- Add salt immediately when sautéing the meat toextract its juices for the subsequent benefit of the sauce.
- Cook the meat in milk before adding wine and tomatoes to protect it from the acidic bite of the latter.
- Do not use a demiglace or other concentrates that tip the balance of flavors toward harshness.
- Use a pot that retains heat. Earthenware is preferred in Bologna and by most cooks in Emilia-Romagna, but enameled cast-iron pans or a pot whose heavy bottom is composed of layers of steel alloys are fully satisfactory.
- Cook, uncovered, at the merest simmer for a long, long time; no less than 3 hours is necessary, more is better.
2 heaping cups, for about 6 servings and 1½ pounds pasta
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3 tablespoons butter plus 1 tablespoon for tossing the pasta
½ cup chopped onion
⅔ cup chopped celery
⅔ cup chopped carrot
¾ pound ground beef chuck (see prefatory note above)
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
1 cup whole milk
Whole nutmeg
1 cup dry white wine
1½ cups canned imported Italian plum tomatoes, cut up, with their juice
1¼ to 1½ pounds pasta
Freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese at the table
Recommended pasta: There is no more perfect union in all gastronomy than the marriage of Bolognese ragù with homemade Bolognese tagliatelle. Equally classic is Baked Green Lasagne with Meat Sauce, Bolognese Style. Ragù is delicious with tortellini, and irreproachable with such boxed, dry pasta as rigatoni, conchiglie, or fusilli. Curiously, considering the popularity of the dish in the United Kingdom and countries of the Commonwealth, meat sauce in Bologna is never served over spaghetti.
1. Put the oil, butter, and chopped onion in the pot, and turn the heat on to medium. Cook and stir the onion until it has become translucent, then add the chopped celery and carrot. Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring the vegetables to coat them well.
2. Add the ground beef, a large pinch of salt, and a few grindings of pepper. Crumble the meat with a fork, stir well, and cook until the beef has lost its raw, red color.
3. Add the milk and let it simmer gently, stirring frequently, until it has bubbled away completely. Add a tiny grating-about ⅛ teaspoon-of nutmeg, and stir.
4. Add the wine, let it simmer until it has evaporated, then add the tomatoes and stir thoroughly to coat all ingredients well. When the tomatoes begin to bubble, turn the heat down so that the sauce cooks at the laziest of simmers, with just an intermittent bubble breaking through to the surface. Cook, uncovered, for 3 hours or more, stirring from time to time. While the sauce is cooking, you are likely to find that it begins to dry out and the fat separates from the meat. To keep it from sticking, continue the cooking, adding ½ cup of water whenever necessary. At the end, however, no water at all must be left and the fat must separate from the sauce. Taste and correct for salt.
5. Toss with cooked drained pasta, adding the tablespoon of butter, and serve with freshly grated Parmesan on the side.
Ahead-of-time note
If you cannot watch the sauce for a 3- to 4-hour stretch, you can turn off the heat whenever you need to leave, and resume cooking later on, as long as you complete the sauce within the same day. Once done, you can refrigerate the sauce in a tightly sealed container for 3 days, or you can freeze it. Before tossing with pasta, reheat it, letting it simmer for 15 minutes and stirring it once or twice
2. GIORGIO LOCATELLI
Ragù - traditional meat sauce - is best with fresh egg pasta, especially tagliatelle or pappardelle, but not with spaghetti, which is too thin to hold the chunks of meat.
You can also serve it with short pasta, such as penne or farfalle; in fact, when the meat is minced (as in the case of beef and pork), it works better with these pastas, and also with fusilli. When you make ragù with wild boar or game, which is cooked on the bone to retain the flavour, and then flaked, the meat has a different consistency which will coat long pasta, such as pappardelle or tagliatelle, better. Sometimes, too, we use ragù as a filling for ravioli.
Each region of Italy has its favourite ragù; sometimes you will even find a mixture of veal, pork and beef all in one sauce. In Toscana, where my sous chef Federico comes from, they like to add chicken liver to pork or beef ragù. At Locanda we vary the ragù according to the season: so sometimes it might be venison or kid (baby goat) - which we get just after Christmas.
We make ragù with baby goat in a similar way to wild boar but we don’t marinate the meat first. At other times it might be hare, pork, veal or lamb. The beauty of making it at home is that you can cook up a big quantity, then divide it into portions and freeze it, ready to heat through when you want it.
Cook the pasta, reserving the cooking water, as usual, then toss the pasta in the pan of ragù, adding a little of the cooking water if necessary to help the sauce cling to the pasta. Stir in a couple of knobs of butter, and if you like, add some grated pecorino or Parmesan.
Sometimes I make a very quick and simple sausage and tomato ragù, which the kids love. I chop up some good pork sausages, sauté them in a pan with some garlic cloves - no onions - add a tin of good tomatoes and maybe some chopped fresh ones, bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for about 40 minutes until it is good and thick.
Because it makes sense to make ragù in large quantities, I have broken with the pattern of the rest of the book and given recipes that should make enough to feed eight people, or four for two different meals. If you only want to make enough for four at one sitting, just reduce the quantities.
Ragù alla bolognese
Makes enough for 8
• 2kg minced beef, preferably neck
• 5 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 carrots, finely chopped
• 1 celery stalk, finely chopped
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• sprig of rosemary and sprig of sage, tied together for a bouquet garni
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 bottle of red wine
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 litre tomato passata
• salt and pepper
To serve:
• pasta, preferably pappardelle (page 338), tagliatelle or short pasta
• freshly grated pecorino cheese
In the restaurant we cook this in the oven in big pans at about 120?C, gas 1?2, so it just simmers, for about the same length of time as if you cooked it on the stove - if you have a big enough oven and big enough pans, you can do the same.
Take the meat out of the fridge and lay it on a tray and let it come to room temperature, so that it will sear, rather than ‘boil’ when it goes into the pan.
Heat the oil in a wide-bottomed saucepan, add the vegetables, herbs and whole garlic cloves, and sweat over a high heat for 5-8 minutes without allowing it to colour (you will need to keep stirring).
Season the meat with salt and pepper and add to the pan of vegetables, making sure that the meat is covering the base of the pan. Leave for about 5-6 minutes, so that the meat seals underneath and heats through completely, before you start stirring (otherwise it will ooze protein and liquid and it will ‘boil’ rather than sear). Take care, though, that the vegetables don’t burn - add a little more oil, if necessary, to stop this happening.
Stir the meat and vegetables every few minutes for about 10-12 minutes, until the meat starts to stick to the bottom of the pan. At this point, the meat is ready to take the wine.
Add the wine and let it reduce right down to virtually nothing, then add the tomato paste and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring all the time.
Add the passata with 1 litre of water. Bring to the boil, then turn down to a simmer and cook for about 1-1/2 hours, adding a little extra water if necessary from time to time, until you have a thick sauce.
When you are ready to serve the ragù, put it back into a pan and heat through. Cook your pasta (preferably pappardelle, tagliatelle or short pasta) and drain, reserving the cooking water. Add the pasta to the ragù and toss well, adding some of the cooking water, if necessary, to loosen the sauce. Serve with freshly grated pecorino.
http://www.fifthestate.co.uk/2006/10/the-best-ragu-alla-bolognese-no-debate/
3. MARIO BATALI
Ingredients
• 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 carrot, finely, diced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 rib celery, finely diced
• 1 clove garlic, sliced
• 1 pound veal, ground
• 1 pound pork, ground
• 1/4 pound pancetta or slab bacon, ground
• 1/2 tube tomato paste
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup dry white wine
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Parmigiano-Reggiano, for grating
Directions
In a 6 to 8-quart, heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat the olive oil and butter over medium heat. Add the onions, celery, and garlic and sweat over medium heat until the vegetables are translucent and soft but not browned, about 10 to 15 minutes. Add the veal, pork, and pancetta and stir into the vegetables. Add the meat over high heat, stirring to keep the meat from sticking together until browned. Add the tomato paste, milk, and wine and simmer over medium-low heat for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and remove from the heat.
When ready to use, the cooked pasta should be added to a saucepan with the appropriate amount of hot ragu Bolognese, and tosses so that the pasta is evenly coated by the ragu.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/mario-batali/ragu-bolognese-recipe2/index.html
4. BIBA CAGIANO
* родилась в Болонье
TAGLIATELLE BOLOGNA STYLE
Tagliatelle alla Bolognese
MAKES 6 SERVINGS
Basic Egg Pasta Dough, page 40, made with 3 cups allpurpose flour
2 cups Bolognese Meat Sauce, page 206
⅓ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese plus additional for serving
Prepare noodles from Basic Egg Pasta Dough. Prepare Bolognese Meat Sauce and keep warm.
Fill a very large saucepan two-thirds full with salted water. Bring water to a boil. Add noodles. Bring water back to a boil and cook noodles uncovered until tender but firm to the bite. Drain noodles and place in a warm deep dish or bowl. Add sauce and ⅓ cup Parmesan cheese. Toss gently until mixed. Serve immediately with additional Parmesan cheese.
BOLOGNESE MEAT SAUCE
Ragù alla Bolognese
The recipe for this classic sauce has been in my family for generations.
MAKES 2½ TO 3 CUPS
¼ cup butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
¼ pound pancetta, page 4, finely chopped
1½ pounds ground veal
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 cup dry white wine
1 (28-ounce) can crushed Italian-style tomatoes
½ cup milk
Melt butter with oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. When butter foams, add onion, carrot, celery and pancetta. Sauté until lightly browned. Add veal. Cook, stirring, until meat is no longer pink. Season with salt and pepper. Increase heat to high and stir in wine. Cook until wine has evaporated.
Press tomatoes through a food mill or sieve to remove seeds. Stir tomato pulp into veal mixture. Cover and reduce heat. Simmer 1 to 1½ hours or until sauce reaches a medium-thick consistency; stir occasionally during cooking. Add milk and cook 5 minutes longer, stirring occasionally.
5. LIDIA BASTIANICH
Tagliatelle with Bolognese Sauce/Tagliatelle alla Bolognese
This sauce seems like a chore, but once you get everything in the pot, it simmers and cooks on its own and yields enough sauce for several luscious meals. (It also freezes well.) When unexpected guests arrive, just cook some pasta and you have dinner ready. What makes this meat sauce unique is the cinnamon, which adds an unexpected, unidentifiably delicious flavor. The kids absolutely love it with gnocchi.
SERVES 6, PLUS A QUART OF SAUCE FOR THE FREEZER
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
1 large yellow onion, finely diced
1 large carrot, peeled and grated
2 stalks celery, finely diced
1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus more for pasta pot
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork
1 pound ground veal
1 cup dry white wine
Two 28-ounce cans Italian plum tomatoes, preferably San Marzano, crushed by hand
4 fresh bay leaves, or 6 dried bay leaves
½ teaspoon peperoncino flakes
Scant ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 pound dried egg tagliatelle
½ cup grated Grana Padano or Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus more for passing
Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven set over medium heat. Add the onion, and let cook until slightly softened, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add the carrot and celery, and season with 1 teaspoon salt. Cook and stir until the onion is translucent, about 3 to 4 minutes more.
Meanwhile, put the ground meats in a large bowl, and pour the wine over the meat into the bowl. Use a fork to stir and crumble the meat to mix with the wine and break the meat into small clumps. Add the meat to the pot, season with 1 teaspoon salt, and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon to break down the clumps, until the meat has given up all of its liquid. Increase heat to medium-high, and reduce away the liquid until you hear a crackling sound coming from the bottom of the pan, about 15 minutes in all.
When the bottom of the pan is dry and the meat is lightly browned, pour in the tomatoes and slosh out the cans with 2 cups hot water. Pour that into the pot along with the bay leaves, and season with the peperoncino, cinnamon, and remaining salt.
Bring the sauce to a boil, then lower the heat to a rapid simmer. Set the cover slightly ajar, and cook until the sauce is thick and flavorful, about 1½ hours, adding up to 4 cups more hot water during the cooking time to keep the meat covered in liquid.
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil for pasta. Heat half of the sauce in a large skillet (refrigerate or freeze the remaining sauce for another day!). Plop the tagliatelle into the boiling water. When the pasta is al dente, drain and transfer it directly into the simmering sauce. Drizzle with olive oil, and toss to coat the pasta with the sauce. Remove from heat, and toss in grated cheese. Serve immediately, passing more grated cheese.
6. GIULIANO BUGIALLI
The famous Bolognese ragu is one of the several meat sauces of its area and is the most popular one. Its distinctive features are the sautéing of the meat together with vegetables, the combination of snipped, chopped, or ground beef and pork for the meat, the frequent use of white rather than red wine, and, especially, the inclusion of heavy cream.
RAGU ALLA BOLOGNESE
1 medium-sized red onion, peeled
1 medium-sized carrot, scraped
1 large stalk celery
3 ounces pancetta or prosciutto, in 1 piece, then cut into cubs
6 ounces boneless pork, in cubes
4 tablespoons (2ounces) sweet butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound ripe, fresh tomatoes, or 1 pound canned tomatoes, preferably imported Italian, drained
2 cups dry white wine
Salt, FGBP
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
¾ cup lukewarm beef broth, preferably homemade
¾ cup heavy cream
Finely chop the onion, carrot, and celery on a board. Coarsely grind the pancetta, beef and pork all together in a meat grinder or mince with a knife. Heat the butter and oil in a heavy, flameproof casserole of terra cotta, lined copper, or enameled iron over medium heat. When the oil mixture is warm, add the chopped vegetables and the ground meats, and sauté for 10’. Stirring every so often with a wooden spoon.
If using fresh tomatoes, cut into pieces. Press fresh or canned tomatoes through a food mill, using the disc with smallest holes, into a crockery or glass bowl. Add the wine to the casserole and let it evaporate for 5’, Add the strained tomatoes and simmer for 20’. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, then ad the broth, cover the casserole, and simmer for 45’. Stirring every so often with a wooden spoon. Add the cream, mix very well, lower the heat, and reduce for 20’, for the last 5’, remove the lid from casserole.
7. JULIA DELLA CROCE
"The Classic Italian Cookbook"
1 c. fresh or canned drained tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped, with juice reserved
2 T. unsalted butter
1/2 T. EVOO
1 oz. pancetta, finely chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 small celery rib with leaves, finely chopped
1 T. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
6 oz. lean ground beef
3 oz. ground pork
1 oz. mortadella, finely chopped, optional
salt, to taste
1/3 c. good quality dry white wine
1/3 c. milk
good pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
2 T. tomato paste
2/3 c. meat broth or good stock
1 quantity pasta fresca cut into tagliatelle, or 1 1/2 lb. dried pasta such as fusilli or orecchiette
freshly ground white or black pepper, to taste
freshly grated Parmesan (pref. parmagianno reggiano)
1.Strain tomato juice and discard seeds. Set aside the chopped tomatoes and their juice.
2. In a large heavy-bottomed pan or deep skillet, melt 1 1/2 T. of butter with the oil. Stir in the pancetta and saute until lightly colored.
3.Add the onion, celery, carrot and parsley, and saute until softened but not browned, about 12 minutes. Keep the heat very low, and add the ground meat, mortadella (if using), and the salt. Allow the meat to color lightly, about two minutes, and use a wooden spoon to break up the chunks.
4. Pour in the wine. Simmer very gently until the alcohol evaporates and the liquid begins to be absorbed, about 3 minutes.
5. Add the milk and nutmeg, and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste, dissolved in 1/4 c. of broth. Add the tomatoes and juice. As soon as the sauce begins to simmer, turn the heat down as low as possible. Cover partially and cook for at least 4 hours, stirring occasionally. Add the remaining broth as the sauce cooks.
6. When the sauce is thick, creamy, and fragrant, remove it from heat and stir in the remaining butter and pepper. Check the seasoning.
7. Bring 4 quarts of salted water to a rapid boil. Cover the pot, and as soon as the water returns to a boil, remove the lid and stir again. Cook the fresh pasta for 10 seconds after the water has returned to the boil, then drain immediately, or cook the dried pasta until al dente, then drain.
8. Transfer the pasta to a warm serving bowl, toss with the sauce, and sprinkle with Parmesan. Serve immediately.
8. CLAUDIA RODEN
Serves 6 to 8.
Bolognese Sauce (Ragu di Carne Alla Bolognese)
4 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion -- finely chopped
1 medium carrot -- finely chopped
1 stalk celery -- finely chopped
1 clove garlic - minced
1/2 cup mushrooms (optional) - diced
1/4 pound pancetta -- finely chopped
3/4 pound ground beef, pork or veal, or mixture of 3
1 1/4 cups dry red wine
4 tablespoons tomato puree
1 1/4 cups meat stock
salt & pepper
2/3 cup heavy cream
Heat the butter and oil in a deep saucepan, add the vegetables and fry until they soften and brown lightly. Add the pancetta and ground meat and fry until the meat changes color. Add wine, simmer until it reduces to half, add seasoning, tomato puree and little stock. Cook slowly, covered, stirring occasionally and gradually stirring in all the stock. After 1 1/2 hours, stir in the cream and and simmer for another 1/2 hour or until sauce has a thick consistency. Serve with tagliatelle, penne or ziti.
Source: "The Good Food of Italy, pg. 113
9. HESTON BLUMENTHAL
Recipe: Spaghetti Bolognese
As you might expect from a classic of the Italian kitchen, this involves no special equipment, just a long, slow simmer to allow the flavours to combine. However, I’ve added in a few things to boost those flavours. Caramelising onions with star anise produces vibrant flavour compounds that really enhance the meaty notes of the sauce, and the oaky quality of the chardonnay complements the sherry vinegar in the tomato compote. Finishing the compote on a high heat captures something of the fried character I enjoyed at Trattoria della Gigina. The use of milk might seem strange but it’s a standard part of many Italian ragù recipes: as it cooks, the proteins and sugars in milk react to give extra flavour and body.
Timing: Once the meat is browned and the caramelised onions are ready (an hour’s work at most) the sauce is virtually left to simmer unattended for 8 hours. Do the prep first thing in the morning and then the day’s your own until it’s time to serve up dinner (especially if you prepare the tomato compote in advance, though even this involves a fairly simple preparation, followed by a slow, carefree simmer). You can even do all the cooking of the Bolognese in advance, then simply warm it through and add the tarragon bouquet garni on the day.
For the sauce base:
125ml extra virgin olive oil
250g oxtail, boned and minced
250g pork shoulder, cut into 1cm cubes
375ml oaked chardonnay
1 star anise
2 large onions (about 450g), finely sliced*
2 large cloves of garlic
2 large onions (about 450g), finely diced
3 large carrots (about 400g), finely diced
3 celery stalks (about 125g), finely diced
250ml whole milk
For the tomato compote:
975g ripe tomatoes
1 tsp salt
200ml extra virgin olive oil
3 large cloves of garlic
1 large onion (about 225g), finely diced
1 heaped tsp coriander seeds
1 star anise
3 cloves
4-5 drops Tabasco
4-5 drops Thai fish sauce
2 tsps Worcestershire sauce
1 heaped tbsp tomato ketchup
30ml sherry vinegar
1 bouquet garni (consisting of 7 sprigs of fresh thyme and 1 fresh bay leaf)
For the finished spaghetti Bolognese:
1 batch of tomato compote
100g good quality spaghetti per person
sherry vinegar, to taste
Parmesan cheese (Parmigiano Reggiano)
1 bouquet garni (in a sheet of leek, wrap 6 tarragon leaves, 4 sprigs of parsley and the leaves from the top of a bunch of celery)
unsalted butter
extra virgin olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Preparing the Sauce Base
1. Place a large, heavy-bottomed frying pan over a medium heat for 5 minutes. Crush the star anise and bag it up in a square of muslin. Add this to the pan, along with 25ml oil and the sliced onions. Cook for 20 minutes, or until the onions are soft and caramelised, stirring occasionally. Set aside.
2. Meanwhile, preheat another large, heavybottomed frying pan over a low heat for 5 minutes. Mince the garlic. Pour 50ml oil into the pan, then tip in the garlic, onions, carrots and celery and cook this soffritto over a medium- low heat for about 20 minutes, or until the raw onion smell has gone. Transfer the soffritto to a bowl and wipe clean the pan.
3. Place the pan over a high heat for 10 minutes. Pour in 50ml olive oil and wait until it starts smoking: it must be hot enough so the meat browns rather than stews. Add the cubed pork and the minced oxtail. Stir until browned all over. (To brown properly, all the meat has to touch the surface of the pan. If it doesn’t, do it in batches.) Tip the browned meat into a sieve over a bowl (to allow the fat to drain off), then transfer the meat to a large pot or casserole. Deglaze the pan by adding a splash of wine, bringing it to the boil, and then scraping the base of the pan to collect all the tasty bits stuck to the bottom. Once the liquid has reduced by half, pour it into the large pot containing the meat.
4. Remove the bag of star anise from the caramelised onions and then tip the onions into the large pot containing the meat. Add the remaining wine and deglaze the frying pan (as in step 3). When the wine has reduced by half, pour it into the large pot. Add the soffritto to the pot as well.
5. Place the pot of Bolognese over a very low heat. Pour in the milk and enough water to cover entirely, and simmer very gently without a lid for 6 hours, stirring occasionally. At all times the ingredients should be covered by the liquid, so be prepared to add more water. (Don’t worry if the milk becomes slightly granular: it won’t affect the end result.)
Preparing The Tomato Compote
1. Bring a large pan of water to the boil. Fill a large bowl with ice-cold water. Remove the cores from the tomatoes with a paring knife. Blanch the tomatoes by dropping them into the boiling water for 10 seconds and then carefully removing them to the bowl of ice-cold water. Take them out of the water immediately and peel off the split skins. (If the tomatoes are not ripe enough, make a cross with a sharp knife in the underside of each, to encourage the skins to come away. They can be left in the hot water for an extra 10 seconds or so, but it’s important that they don’t overheat and begin to cook.)
2. Cut the tomatoes in half vertically. Scoop out the seeds and the membrane with a teaspoon, over a chopping board. Roughly chop the seeds and membrane, then tip them into a sieve over a bowl. Sprinkle over the salt and leave for 20 minutes to extract their juice, after which you can discard the seeds and membrane, reserving only the juice.
3. Roughly chop the tomato flesh and set aside.
4. Meanwhile, place a large, heavy-bottomed pan over a low heat. Add 100ml of the olive oil. Mince the garlic, then put it into the pan along with the onion. Cook for 10-15 minutes, until soft but not coloured.
5. Crush the coriander and put it in a muslin bag, along with the star anise and the cloves. Add it to the softened onions and garlic.
6.Take the juice drawn from the tomato seeds and membrane and add it to the onions and garlic along with the tomato flesh.
7. Add the Tabasco, fish sauce, Worcestershire sauce, tomato ketchup and sherry vinegar. Drop in the bouquet garni and cook over a low heat for 2 hours.
8. To add a roasted note to the compote, add the remaining oil and turn up the heat to high. Fry the compote for 15-20 minutes, stirring regularly to make sure it doesn’t catch, then pour off any olive oil not absorbed by the compote. Set aside a little to coat the cooked pasta. ( The rest can be stored in a jar and makes a great base for a salad dressing. The compote itself will keep in the fridge for a week.)
Cooking The Spaghetti Bolognese
1. Stir the tomato compote (including the bag of spices) into the Bolognese sauce and cook over a very low heat for a final 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
2. Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil for the pasta. For every 100g of pasta, you’ll need 1 litre of water and 10g salt. (If you don’t have a large enough pan it’s essential to use two pans rather than overcrowd one.)
3. Put the spaghetti into the pan, give it a stir, then bring back to the boil and cook until the pasta is just tender but with a bite. Check the cooking time on the packet and use that as a guideline, but taste it every few minutes as this is the only way to judge when the pasta is ready.
4. Before taking the Bolognese sauce off the heat, check the seasoning and then add some sherry vinegar (tasting as you go) to balance the richness of the sauce. Add a generous grating of Parmesan (but not too much, as it can make the sauce overly salty) and remove the sauce from the heat. Take out the original thyme and bay bouquet garni and the bag of spices. Replace these with the parsley and tarragon bouquet garni, stir in 100g of unsalted butter and let the sauce stand for 5 minutes.
5. Once the pasta is cooked, drain, and rinse it thoroughly. Return to the pot to warm through. (Since the ragù is not going to be mixed with the pasta, it needs to be rinsed to prevent it becoming starchy and sticking together.) Add a generous knob of butter (about 50g per 400g of pasta) and coat with olive oil and the reserved oil from the final frying of the compote. To serve, wind portions of pasta around a carving fork and lay them horizontally in wide, shallow bowls. Top with the Bolognese sauce and finish with a grating of Parmesan.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6530258
10. WAVERLEY ROOT
This is the recipe for Ragu Bolognese, "North Italian Meat Sauce" from the book.
1/4 pound smoked ham, coarsely chopped
1 cup coarsely chopped onion
1/4 cup coarsely chopped carrot
1/2 cup chopped celery
4 tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. olive oil
3/4lb. round steak, ground twice,
1/4lb. lean pork, ground twice,
1/2 cup white wine
2 cups beef stock
2 tbsp. tomato paste
1/2 pound chicken livers
1 cup heavy cream
Pinch of ground nutmeg
Salt and Pepper
11. LUARD ELIZABETH
“European peasant cookery”
BAKED LASAGNE
Lasagne al forno (Italy)
I was only seventeen when I first learned how to layer a lasagne, a dish every country girl learns at mother’s knee-but which for me, fresh from a childhood in wartime London, was a revelation. My mentor, Michaela, worked during the week in the pension where I was billeted for the furtherance of my artistic education, but her real home, visited only on Sundays, was in the hills above Florence in the village of Fiesole-at that time no more than a little cluster of dwellings clinging to the side of a ravine. The roofs were of baked terracotta, golden as apricots, nestling among grey rocks bright with cistus blossoms, lavender and rosemary. Old cooking pots and empty cans cascaded geraniums and sweet basil from every crack and crevice. In between the dwellings, stony terraces had been planted with a few rows of stumpy vines sheltering a catch crop of lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, peppers, aubergines.
In the city, Michaela cooked for us all every evening-wonderful broths, thick minestrone and clear soups with home-made dumplings. Her speciality was the pasta she would always make herself, piling the kitchen table with elegant pyramids of the yellow and green strings and hanging them up to dry on a washing line strung between the kitchen chairs. How she sauced her beautiful pastas would depend on what was fresh in the market that day. I would help her in the kitchen whenever I could, chopping the garlic and herbs, slicing purple eggplants into creamy rings for her to fry and layer into a dish with meat sauce and white sauce to be baked much as she made her lasagne.
Michaela would sometimes take me, on her one day off a week, back to her little house in Fiesole to spend Sunday with her family. There I would be allowed to help her make what was known as the best lasagne in the village. Her children were grown and had babies of their own, but it was always Michaela who cooked the family’s Sunday lunch, setting it out on the wooden table under the back porch shaded from the early afternoon sun by a neatly trimmed vine. The pasta was preceded, since it was the feast day, by an antipasto-sometimes a few slices of raw Parma ham and salami sausage sliced and served with a pat of butter, sometimes a few chicken livers fried and then spread on slices of toasted bread. There was always a bowl of olives, a big basket of fresh bread, and plenty of wine for the adults. The children came and went from the table at will, and ate as they pleased.
The ragu Michaela made to sauce the dish is found under various names throughout all Italy. In the pensione’s kitchen, she made a large pan of it once a week, and then kept it on the back of the stove, ladle conveniently to hand, ready to add its richness to a sauce or stew.
The Italians rarely put water into a sauce: they appreciate strong, concentrated flavours which give character and piquancy to the chosen grain food-pasta, polenta, rice. Subtlety is found in contrast: bland with spicy, cold with hot, sweet with sour, cooked with raw; it’s this pleasure in surprise which makes the everyday cooking of Italy so sophisticated. Add a natural understanding of texture and form-most obvious in the dozens of different shapes into which pasta is cut, the better to absorb its sauces-and it is no wonder the Italians can claim to have taught the rest of Europe how to cook.
Quantity: Serves 6 as a main dish
Time: Preparation: about 90 minutes
Cooking: 25-30 minutes
For the dough
500g/1 lb strong flour (preferably the special hard durum wheat flour)
1 teaspoon salt
5-6 eggs
1 tablespoon olive oil
Cornmeal or semolina flour for sprinkling (ordinary flour will do)
For the ragu (tomato sauce)
1-2 stalks green celery
1 mature carrot
1 large onion
2 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons prosciutto or pancetta scraps or 100g/4 oz minced meat or a scrap of cheese rind-pecorino or parmesan
Oregano and Italian parsley
4 tablespoons olive oil
750g/1½ lb ripe tomatoes (or 600ml/1 pint passata)
1 tablespoon concentrated tomato paste
300ml/½ pint stock or wine
For the béchamel (white sauce)
75g/3 oz butter or oil
75g/3 oz flour
1 litre/2 pints full cream milk
2 tablespoons mascarpone or cream cheese
About 4 tablespoons grated pecorino, or fontina and parmesan
Salt and pepper
Utensils: A rolling pin or pasta roller cutter, two small saucepans, one large saucepan, large gratin dish
Pour the flour and salt together directly onto the clean scrubbed surface of the kitchen table, or into a large bowl. You will need plenty of elbow room.
Mix the eggs together. Make a dip in the flour and pour in the eggs and the oil. Work the liquid into the flour with the hook of your hand, using a circular motion to draw in the flour at the edges. Add an extra tablespoon of water if you need it to make a soft pliable dough. This process can be started in your mixer and finished by hand, but you should knead steadily for 10 minutes.
You will soon develop your own method: Michaela used the flat of one hand to turn the ball of dough, while she knuckled the edges into the middle with the other (an action she also used to knead her bread dough for pizza). When the dough is smooth and elastic, oil the outside lightly, cover it with a cloth or clingfilm, and leave it to rest for 20-30 minutes while you make the tomato sauce.
Wash and chop the celery and carrot finely. Peel and chop the onion. The neatest way of chopping an onion is to make close, parallel cuts from the top to the bottom (without cutting right through) which you then cross at right angles with another set of parallel cuts. Now you can slice the onion as if across for rings, and it will yield little squares. Peel and crush the garlic. Finely chop the ham, if using. Chop the herbs. Heat the oil gently in a frying pan. Fry the onion and the garlic first until transparent-they should not be allowed to caramelize or the sauce will taste bitter. Add the celery, carrot, ham and (optional) meat and fry for a moment, until the meat stiffens and loses its pink colour. Meanwhile, pour boiling water over the tomatoes to loosen the skin if you are using fresh ones. Peel, de-seed, and chop them. Add the tomatoes and tomato paste (and a teaspoon of sugar if you are using the non-Mediterranean variety of tomato). Stir in the stock or wine. Put the sauce, lidded, on the back burner to simmer until you are ready to use it-an hour is not too long. Adjust the seasoning at the very end.
Return your attention to the pasta. Divide the dough into 6 pieces. Flour the board or table, and roll each piece out so fine you can nearly see the wood of the board through it. Sprinkle the rolled out dough with a handful of coarse-ground polenta or semolina and leave it for another 15 minutes to rest under a damp cloth or covered with clingfilm.
Now you’re ready to roll the pasta. The easiest method is with a pasta roller, an implement which bolts onto the kitchen table like a tiny mangle, and operates on the same principle. Cut the dough into 6 long sausages, cover all but one, and feed it through the mangle. Roll the dough thin enough by progressively decreasing the gaps between the rollers. (You will not need the cutter slots for lasagne.) While the pasta rests for another half hour, make the béchamel sauce.
Melt the butter in a small pan. Stir in the flour and cook it gently until it looks sandy but has not yet taken colour. Heat the milk and whisk it in, beating to avoid lumps. Simmer the sauce for 5 minutes, till it no longer tastes floury. Beat in the cream cheese or cream.
Set your largest pan of salted water on to boil. Have ready a bowl of cold water and lay a clean dish cloth ready for draining the pasta.
Back to the rested pasta: cut the sheets into 4-inch squares. Throw them into the boiling water in small batches. Give the water a stir to keep the leaves separate. Make sure the water reboils fast, and cook the pasta for 1 minute only. Lift each piece out with a draining spoon and pass it through the bowl of cold water as it comes out, then transfer it to the cloth to wait for the next step. The cold water stops the pieces sticking together.
Now assemble the dish: spread a ladleful of the white sauce over the base of your gratin dish. Cover it with a single layer of pasta, overlapping the squares. Ladle a generous layer of tomato sauce over all and top with another layer of pasta, a layer of white sauce and sprinkle with a tablespoon of grated cheese. And so on until all is used up. Finish with white sauce and top with cheese. You can make as many layers as the shape of your dish dictates, but always start and finish with white sauce. Sprinkle a few flakes of butter over the top. At this stage, you can leave the assembled lasagne to be baked later.
Preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C/Gas 5.
Bake for 20-30 minutes (depending on how cool it was), until the top is brown and bubbling. Follow with a salad-perhaps fennel dressed with lemon juice and the thick fresh first-pressing olive oil of Tuscany, or a crisp salad of curly endive. No need for anything else-though a Florentine might feel short-changed if he didn’t get his teeth into a bistek. Red wine should accompany. Michaela would be proud of you.
Suggestions:
• This makes plenty of pasta-maybe more than you need. If you think you have too much (and it is up to you how many layers you use) cut the rest into noodles for another meal: slice the leftover raw sheets of pasta into strips (see the tagliatelle recipe which follows) or push them through the cutter of the pastaroller; then drop handfuls from a height onto a floured board and bag up for storage after 15-20 minutes. They will keep in a plastic bag in the fridge for a week, as long as you like in the freezer. Or they can be dried for storage: loop them over a string in a current of air, and leave to dry till brittle. Or leave handfuls on the board, pick them up and drop them down every now and again, and let them dry out in hanks.
• Flavour the béchamel with a couple of handfuls of spinach, cooked and drained and finely chopped.
• For a vegetarian version, replace the meat with mushrooms. Or use both.
• To make cannelloni al forno, prepare the pasta and sauces as above, but roll the squares of cooked pasta round a tablespoon of the ragu, pack the rolls into an oiled gratin dish, cover with béchamel, finish with grated cheese and bake as for the lasagne.
12. ELIZABETH DAVID
SAUCE BOLOGNESE FOR SPAGHETTI
½ small tin Italian tomato paste, 2 oz mushrooms or mushroom stalks, 2 oz minced raw beef, 2 oz chicken livers, 1 onion, 1 clove of garlic, basil, salt and pepper, 2 lumps of sugar, a little oil, butter, or dripping, stock or water, ½ glass wine.
Into a small thick pan put a tablespoon of oil, butter, or dripping. In this fry the chopped onion until it is golden. Add the minced beef, the chopped mushrooms, and the chicken livers. Cook until the beef is slightly fried - only about 3 minutes.
Now add a small glass of wine, red or white, and let it bubble until reduced by half. Put in the tomato paste, add the basil, seasoning and the sugar and enough stock or water to make the sauce of a creamy consistency, but thinner than you finally require, for it will reduce in the cooking.
With the point of a knife crush the clove of garlic and add to the sauce. Put the lid on the pan and simmer very slowly for 30 minutes at least. The longer the better, so that the essence of the meat penetrates the sauce. You can leave it at the bottom of a slow oven for as long as you like. Be sure to have it very hot before serving with your spaghetti.
13. JAMES PETERSON
Bolognese Sauce
Most Bolognese sauce recipes call for browning chopped meat with aromatic vegetables and then simmering the meat with tomatoes. In this method, you slowly simmer larger pieces of meat, which allows the sauce to develop a deeper, more complex flavor and makes it possible to eliminate every trace of fat.
MAKES ABOUT 5 QUARTS
5 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch cubes
Salt
Pepper
6 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 large carrots, peeled and finely chopped
Nine 14½-ounce cans tomatoes, drained, seeded, and chopped, or 20 tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped
Bouquet garni
2 cups full-bodied red wine
½ cup red wine vinegar, or to taste
Sugar, if needed
Season the meat with salt and pepper. In a pot large enough to hold the stew, heat 3 tablespoons of the oil over high heat. Working in batches, brown the meat on all sides. This should take about 20 minutes for each batch.
Pour the burned oil out of the pot, return the pot to medium heat, and add the remaining oil, garlic, onion, and carrots. Sweat (cook gently to release the juices) for about 10 minutes, or until the vegetables brown slightly. Return the meat to the pot and add the tomatoes, bouquet garni, wine, and ½ cup wine vinegar, bring to a simmer, and simmer gently, uncovered, for 3 hours. Remove from the heat and let cool. Ideally, refrigerate overnight. Spoon off and discard any fat that has congealed on top.
Remove the meat from the sauce and let cool until cool enough to handle. Using your fingers, break up the meat into shreds. Return the sauce to high heat and simmer to thicken slightly. Discard the bouquet garni. Stir the shredded meat into the sauce.
Season the sauce with salt and pepper. Taste and adjust with a little sugar and with more vinegar if needed. Strangely, if the sauce tastes acidic, vinegar helps attenuate the acidity. Store for up to 5 days in the fridge or several months in the freezer.
14. MARCUS WAREING
BAKED PENNE WITH BOLOGNESE
Although there are many contenders for the crown, bolognese is probably the king of pasta sauces. It’s often tossed with pasta and sprinkled with freshly grated Parmesan, but here’s a baked version with creamy Taleggio cheese. This is a great dish to feed a crowd, because it can be prepared ahead and cooked when you need it.
SERVES 6
2 tsp fine table salt
1lb 2oz (500g) dried penne rigate or plain penne
olive oil
1lb 2oz (500g) Taleggio cheese, thinly sliced
2 tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, to finish
FOR THE BOLOGNESE SAUCE
3 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
4 celery ribs, strings removed and finely chopped
2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
4 sprigs of fresh thyme
4 sprigs of fresh marjoram
2 bay leaves
1lb 2oz (500g) lean ground beef, such as sirloin or round
2 tbsp tomato paste
10 ripe plum or roma tomatoes, peeled, deseeded, and chopped, or 14oz (400g) can crushed tomatoes
sea salt and freshly milled
black pepper
First make the bolognese sauce. Heat the oil and butter in a large, heavy pan over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, carrots, garlic, and herbs, and cook until the vegetables are light golden brown. Add the ground beef and cook until it starts to color, stirring to break up any lumps. Season and stir in the tomato paste. Cook for 5 minutes longer, then stir in the tomatoes and 1 cup water. Cover and cook over low heat for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
Bring a large pot of water to a rapid boil over high heat. Add the salt, then the pasta, and stir well. Cover the pan and bring the water back to a boil, then take the lid off and turn the heat down slightly. Boil for 10-12 minutes, or according to package directions, stirring frequently, until the pasta is al dente (tender, but still with a little bite).
Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C).
Drain the pasta well in a colander, then transfer to a very large bowl. Pour the sauce into the bowl and mix well, moistening with a splash of olive oil. Taste for seasoning. Transfer to a large baking dish and lay the slices of Taleggio on top, overlapping them slightly. Bake for 30 minutes until the cheese is golden brown and bubbling. Serve hot, sprinkled with chopped parsley and black pepper.
15. MARK BITTMAN
“How to cook everything : 2000 simple recipes for great food”
Meat Sauce, Bolognese Style Ragu
MAKES: A little more than 4 cups (enough for about 3 pounds pasta)
TIME: At least 3 hours, largely unattended
Ragu doesn’t require much in the way of work, but it does require occasional attention over the course of a morning or afternoon (the variation, however, is pretty fast). Double or triple the recipe if you like (it freezes well).
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
1/4 cup chopped bacon or pancetta
8 ounces lean ground beef
8 ounces lean ground pork (or use all beef)
3/4 cup dry white wine or juice from the tomatoes
One 28- or 35-ounce can whole plum tomatoes, drained (reserve the juice if you’re using it instead of wine)
1 cup beef or chicken stock
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup cream, half-and-half, or milk
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
Put the olive oil in a large, deep skillet or saucepan over medium-low heat. When hot, add the onion, carrot, celery, and bacon. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. Add the ground meat and cook, stirring and breaking up any clumps, until all traces of red are gone, about 5 minutes. Add the wine, raise the heat a bit, and cook, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid is evaporated, about 5 minutes.
Crush the tomatoes with a fork or your hands and add them to the pot; stir, then add the stock. Turn the heat to low and cook at a slow simmer, stirring occasionally and breaking up the tomatoes and any clumps of meat that remain. After an hour or so, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook for at least another hour, until much of the liquid has evaporated and the sauce is very thick. (At this point, you may refrigerate the sauce for a day or two or freeze it for several weeks. Reheat before proceeding.)
Add the cream and cook for another 15 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
Serve immediately with any cooked pasta, passing grated Parmesan, if you like, at the table.
16. NANCY SILVERSTON
Prior to his working at Del Posto, Matt went to Italy with Mario for a story for Gourmet. The premise of the story was that Mario was taking his chefs and the general manager from Del Posto to Italy, specifically to the center of Emilia-Romagna, to show them what it was like to eat there. They ate sixty-two courses in five days and Matt had a lot of dishes to talk about, but the one he was most excited about was the ragù bolognese he had at Diana, a restaurant just outside the main piazza in Bologna. It was as if his eyes had just been opened. He called me right after that meal: “It was rich but delicate and with a touch of sweetness,” he told me. When they got back to New York, while Matt was relegated to the soup station of the kitchen, Mark Ladner and Mark’s team at Del Posto attempted to create a bolognese that captured the spirit of the one at Diana. When Matt tasted Mark’s version, he called me again, excited: “They did it!” he said. “They nailed it.” And that-the Del Posto version of the Diana bolognese-was what Matt was going for when we opened Mozza. Having eaten at Diana myself, I can also tell you that Matt nailed it. When making bolognese, the most important thing is to go slow. You never want the meat to cook directly against the pan, because you want to braise the meat, not brown it. The “secret” to it is the Soffritto, which takes several hours to make-so give yourself time. This is slow food!
MAKES OVER 1 QUART OF RAGÙ OR ENOUGH FOR MORE THAN 16 SERVINGS; PASTA WITH SAUCE SERVES 6
for the ragù bolognese
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
8 garlic cloves
2½ ounces pancetta, roughly chopped or ground
1 cup Soffritto
½ of a 4.5-ounce tube (¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon) double-concentrated tomato paste
1 pound ground veal
1 pound ground pork
2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more to taste
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup dry white wine
3 cups Basic Chicken Stock
¾ cup whole milk
for finishing and serving the pasta
Kosher salt
¾ cup Basic Chicken Stock, plus more as needed or pasta-cooking water
3 teaspoons unsalted butter
12 ounces Garganelli
6 tablespoons finishing-quality extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus a wedge for grating
3 tablespoons freshly grated pecorino romano
To make the ragù, combine the oil and garlic in the bowl of a miniature food processor fitted with a metal blade or the jar of a blender and purée. Add the pancetta and purée, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl or jar occasionally, until the ingredients form a homogenous paste. Transfer the pancetta-garlic paste to a large sauté pan and cook over medium heat until the fat from the pancetta is rendered, about 5 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent the garlic from browning. Stir in the Soffritto and cook for about 1 minute. Move the vegetables to create a bare spot in the pan, add the tomato paste to that spot, and cook for 1 minute, stirring, to caramelize the tomato paste slightly. Add the veal and pork; season with the salt, pepper, and nutmeg; and cook, stirring occasionally, until all the juices released from the meat have cooked off and the pan is almost dry, about 10 minutes. Add the wine, increase the heat to medium high, and cook until the wine has evaporated and the pan is almost dry, about 10 minutes. Add the chicken stock, bring it to a simmer, reduce the heat, and simmer the meat with the stock for about 2 hours, stirring occasionally to prevent the meat from sticking to the bottom of the pan, until the stock has almost all cooked off but the pan is not completely dry. Add the milk and simmer until the ragù returns to a thick, saucy consistency, 30 to 40 minutes. Use the ragù, or allow it to cool to room temperature, transfer it to an airtight container, and refrigerate it for up to three days; freeze it for as long as three months. Warm the ragù over medium heat before serving, adding enough water to loosen it to a saucelike consistency.
To finish and serve the pasta, fill a pasta pot or large stockpot with 6 quarts of water, add 6 tablespoons of salt, and bring the water to a boil over high heat. If you are not using a pasta pot, place a colander in the sink or have a wire strainer handy for lifting the pasta out of the water.
While the water is coming to a boil, combine 1½ cups of the ragù, the chicken stock, and butter in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Stir the ingredients to combine and heat, stirring occasionally, until the butter is melted and the sauce is warmed through, adding more chicken stock, if necessary, to obtain a loose, sauce consistency. Turn off the heat while you cook the garganelli.
Remove the garganelli from the refrigerator or freezer and drop them into the boiling water. Stir to prevent the pasta from sticking together, partially cover the pot so the water returns to a boil quickly and continues boiling, and cook the pasta until it’s al dente, about 2 minutes. About 1 minute before the pasta is done, place the sauce over high heat. Lift the pasta out of the cooking water, or reserve 1 cup of the water and drain the pasta, and immediately add it to the pan with the sauce. Cook the pasta with the sauce for 2 minutes, stirring gently with a rubber spatula so you don’t tear the pasta, to stain the pasta with the sauce, adding some of the reserved pasta water if the pasta is dry and sticky instead of slippery and glistening. Turn off the heat and add the finishing-quality olive oil, stirring vigorously and shaking the pan to emulsify the sauce. Add the grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and pecorino romano and stir to combine.
Pile the garganelli in the center of each of six plates, dividing them evenly, and spoon any sauce remaining in the pan over the pasta. Use a microplane or another fine grater to grate a light layer of Parmigiano-Reggiano over each plate, and serve.
А это моя любимая игрушка. Из Австралии.
Было опрошено 60 поваров о том, как именно они готовят Spag Bol.
Пройти по ссылке, выбрать слева
Chefs' spaghetti Bolognese poll recipes B to K
или
Chefs' spaghetti Bolognese poll recipes L to Z
далее:
launch gallery…
и наслаждаться фирменными добавками вроде рыбного соуса, апельсиновой цедры или гусиного жира
http://gourmettraveller.com.au/battle-of-the-bol.htm
Все тексты на английском.
Итальянцы-пишущие по-английски:
Marcella Hazan
Giorgio Locatelli
Mario Batali
Biba Cagiano
Lidia Bastianich
Giuliano Bugially
Julia Della Croce
Прочие авторы:
Claudia Roden
Heston Blumenthal
Waverley Root
Elisabeth Lluard
Elisabeth David
James Peterson
Marcus Wareing
Mark Bittman
UPDATE: Добавлена адская тетка Nancy Silverston.
*краткую рецензию на ее книгу The Mozza Cookbook писала ранее.
И в подарок - моя любимая игрушка)
Все 16 рецептов под катом.
1. MARCELLA HAZAN
Bolognese Meat Sauce
Из книги « Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking»
Ragù, as the Bolognese call their celebrated meat sauce, is characterized by mellow, gentle, comfortable flavor that any cook can achieve by being careful about a few basic points:
- The meat should not be from too lean a cut; the more marbled it is, the sweeter the ragù will be. The most desirable cut of beef is the neck portion of the chuck.
- Add salt immediately when sautéing the meat toextract its juices for the subsequent benefit of the sauce.
- Cook the meat in milk before adding wine and tomatoes to protect it from the acidic bite of the latter.
- Do not use a demiglace or other concentrates that tip the balance of flavors toward harshness.
- Use a pot that retains heat. Earthenware is preferred in Bologna and by most cooks in Emilia-Romagna, but enameled cast-iron pans or a pot whose heavy bottom is composed of layers of steel alloys are fully satisfactory.
- Cook, uncovered, at the merest simmer for a long, long time; no less than 3 hours is necessary, more is better.
2 heaping cups, for about 6 servings and 1½ pounds pasta
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3 tablespoons butter plus 1 tablespoon for tossing the pasta
½ cup chopped onion
⅔ cup chopped celery
⅔ cup chopped carrot
¾ pound ground beef chuck (see prefatory note above)
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
1 cup whole milk
Whole nutmeg
1 cup dry white wine
1½ cups canned imported Italian plum tomatoes, cut up, with their juice
1¼ to 1½ pounds pasta
Freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese at the table
Recommended pasta: There is no more perfect union in all gastronomy than the marriage of Bolognese ragù with homemade Bolognese tagliatelle. Equally classic is Baked Green Lasagne with Meat Sauce, Bolognese Style. Ragù is delicious with tortellini, and irreproachable with such boxed, dry pasta as rigatoni, conchiglie, or fusilli. Curiously, considering the popularity of the dish in the United Kingdom and countries of the Commonwealth, meat sauce in Bologna is never served over spaghetti.
1. Put the oil, butter, and chopped onion in the pot, and turn the heat on to medium. Cook and stir the onion until it has become translucent, then add the chopped celery and carrot. Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring the vegetables to coat them well.
2. Add the ground beef, a large pinch of salt, and a few grindings of pepper. Crumble the meat with a fork, stir well, and cook until the beef has lost its raw, red color.
3. Add the milk and let it simmer gently, stirring frequently, until it has bubbled away completely. Add a tiny grating-about ⅛ teaspoon-of nutmeg, and stir.
4. Add the wine, let it simmer until it has evaporated, then add the tomatoes and stir thoroughly to coat all ingredients well. When the tomatoes begin to bubble, turn the heat down so that the sauce cooks at the laziest of simmers, with just an intermittent bubble breaking through to the surface. Cook, uncovered, for 3 hours or more, stirring from time to time. While the sauce is cooking, you are likely to find that it begins to dry out and the fat separates from the meat. To keep it from sticking, continue the cooking, adding ½ cup of water whenever necessary. At the end, however, no water at all must be left and the fat must separate from the sauce. Taste and correct for salt.
5. Toss with cooked drained pasta, adding the tablespoon of butter, and serve with freshly grated Parmesan on the side.
Ahead-of-time note
If you cannot watch the sauce for a 3- to 4-hour stretch, you can turn off the heat whenever you need to leave, and resume cooking later on, as long as you complete the sauce within the same day. Once done, you can refrigerate the sauce in a tightly sealed container for 3 days, or you can freeze it. Before tossing with pasta, reheat it, letting it simmer for 15 minutes and stirring it once or twice
2. GIORGIO LOCATELLI
Ragù - traditional meat sauce - is best with fresh egg pasta, especially tagliatelle or pappardelle, but not with spaghetti, which is too thin to hold the chunks of meat.
You can also serve it with short pasta, such as penne or farfalle; in fact, when the meat is minced (as in the case of beef and pork), it works better with these pastas, and also with fusilli. When you make ragù with wild boar or game, which is cooked on the bone to retain the flavour, and then flaked, the meat has a different consistency which will coat long pasta, such as pappardelle or tagliatelle, better. Sometimes, too, we use ragù as a filling for ravioli.
Each region of Italy has its favourite ragù; sometimes you will even find a mixture of veal, pork and beef all in one sauce. In Toscana, where my sous chef Federico comes from, they like to add chicken liver to pork or beef ragù. At Locanda we vary the ragù according to the season: so sometimes it might be venison or kid (baby goat) - which we get just after Christmas.
We make ragù with baby goat in a similar way to wild boar but we don’t marinate the meat first. At other times it might be hare, pork, veal or lamb. The beauty of making it at home is that you can cook up a big quantity, then divide it into portions and freeze it, ready to heat through when you want it.
Cook the pasta, reserving the cooking water, as usual, then toss the pasta in the pan of ragù, adding a little of the cooking water if necessary to help the sauce cling to the pasta. Stir in a couple of knobs of butter, and if you like, add some grated pecorino or Parmesan.
Sometimes I make a very quick and simple sausage and tomato ragù, which the kids love. I chop up some good pork sausages, sauté them in a pan with some garlic cloves - no onions - add a tin of good tomatoes and maybe some chopped fresh ones, bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for about 40 minutes until it is good and thick.
Because it makes sense to make ragù in large quantities, I have broken with the pattern of the rest of the book and given recipes that should make enough to feed eight people, or four for two different meals. If you only want to make enough for four at one sitting, just reduce the quantities.
Ragù alla bolognese
Makes enough for 8
• 2kg minced beef, preferably neck
• 5 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 carrots, finely chopped
• 1 celery stalk, finely chopped
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• sprig of rosemary and sprig of sage, tied together for a bouquet garni
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 bottle of red wine
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 litre tomato passata
• salt and pepper
To serve:
• pasta, preferably pappardelle (page 338), tagliatelle or short pasta
• freshly grated pecorino cheese
In the restaurant we cook this in the oven in big pans at about 120?C, gas 1?2, so it just simmers, for about the same length of time as if you cooked it on the stove - if you have a big enough oven and big enough pans, you can do the same.
Take the meat out of the fridge and lay it on a tray and let it come to room temperature, so that it will sear, rather than ‘boil’ when it goes into the pan.
Heat the oil in a wide-bottomed saucepan, add the vegetables, herbs and whole garlic cloves, and sweat over a high heat for 5-8 minutes without allowing it to colour (you will need to keep stirring).
Season the meat with salt and pepper and add to the pan of vegetables, making sure that the meat is covering the base of the pan. Leave for about 5-6 minutes, so that the meat seals underneath and heats through completely, before you start stirring (otherwise it will ooze protein and liquid and it will ‘boil’ rather than sear). Take care, though, that the vegetables don’t burn - add a little more oil, if necessary, to stop this happening.
Stir the meat and vegetables every few minutes for about 10-12 minutes, until the meat starts to stick to the bottom of the pan. At this point, the meat is ready to take the wine.
Add the wine and let it reduce right down to virtually nothing, then add the tomato paste and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring all the time.
Add the passata with 1 litre of water. Bring to the boil, then turn down to a simmer and cook for about 1-1/2 hours, adding a little extra water if necessary from time to time, until you have a thick sauce.
When you are ready to serve the ragù, put it back into a pan and heat through. Cook your pasta (preferably pappardelle, tagliatelle or short pasta) and drain, reserving the cooking water. Add the pasta to the ragù and toss well, adding some of the cooking water, if necessary, to loosen the sauce. Serve with freshly grated pecorino.
http://www.fifthestate.co.uk/2006/10/the-best-ragu-alla-bolognese-no-debate/
3. MARIO BATALI
Ingredients
• 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 carrot, finely, diced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 rib celery, finely diced
• 1 clove garlic, sliced
• 1 pound veal, ground
• 1 pound pork, ground
• 1/4 pound pancetta or slab bacon, ground
• 1/2 tube tomato paste
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup dry white wine
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Parmigiano-Reggiano, for grating
Directions
In a 6 to 8-quart, heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat the olive oil and butter over medium heat. Add the onions, celery, and garlic and sweat over medium heat until the vegetables are translucent and soft but not browned, about 10 to 15 minutes. Add the veal, pork, and pancetta and stir into the vegetables. Add the meat over high heat, stirring to keep the meat from sticking together until browned. Add the tomato paste, milk, and wine and simmer over medium-low heat for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and remove from the heat.
When ready to use, the cooked pasta should be added to a saucepan with the appropriate amount of hot ragu Bolognese, and tosses so that the pasta is evenly coated by the ragu.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/mario-batali/ragu-bolognese-recipe2/index.html
4. BIBA CAGIANO
* родилась в Болонье
TAGLIATELLE BOLOGNA STYLE
Tagliatelle alla Bolognese
MAKES 6 SERVINGS
Basic Egg Pasta Dough, page 40, made with 3 cups allpurpose flour
2 cups Bolognese Meat Sauce, page 206
⅓ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese plus additional for serving
Prepare noodles from Basic Egg Pasta Dough. Prepare Bolognese Meat Sauce and keep warm.
Fill a very large saucepan two-thirds full with salted water. Bring water to a boil. Add noodles. Bring water back to a boil and cook noodles uncovered until tender but firm to the bite. Drain noodles and place in a warm deep dish or bowl. Add sauce and ⅓ cup Parmesan cheese. Toss gently until mixed. Serve immediately with additional Parmesan cheese.
BOLOGNESE MEAT SAUCE
Ragù alla Bolognese
The recipe for this classic sauce has been in my family for generations.
MAKES 2½ TO 3 CUPS
¼ cup butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
¼ pound pancetta, page 4, finely chopped
1½ pounds ground veal
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 cup dry white wine
1 (28-ounce) can crushed Italian-style tomatoes
½ cup milk
Melt butter with oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. When butter foams, add onion, carrot, celery and pancetta. Sauté until lightly browned. Add veal. Cook, stirring, until meat is no longer pink. Season with salt and pepper. Increase heat to high and stir in wine. Cook until wine has evaporated.
Press tomatoes through a food mill or sieve to remove seeds. Stir tomato pulp into veal mixture. Cover and reduce heat. Simmer 1 to 1½ hours or until sauce reaches a medium-thick consistency; stir occasionally during cooking. Add milk and cook 5 minutes longer, stirring occasionally.
5. LIDIA BASTIANICH
Tagliatelle with Bolognese Sauce/Tagliatelle alla Bolognese
This sauce seems like a chore, but once you get everything in the pot, it simmers and cooks on its own and yields enough sauce for several luscious meals. (It also freezes well.) When unexpected guests arrive, just cook some pasta and you have dinner ready. What makes this meat sauce unique is the cinnamon, which adds an unexpected, unidentifiably delicious flavor. The kids absolutely love it with gnocchi.
SERVES 6, PLUS A QUART OF SAUCE FOR THE FREEZER
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
1 large yellow onion, finely diced
1 large carrot, peeled and grated
2 stalks celery, finely diced
1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus more for pasta pot
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork
1 pound ground veal
1 cup dry white wine
Two 28-ounce cans Italian plum tomatoes, preferably San Marzano, crushed by hand
4 fresh bay leaves, or 6 dried bay leaves
½ teaspoon peperoncino flakes
Scant ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 pound dried egg tagliatelle
½ cup grated Grana Padano or Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus more for passing
Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven set over medium heat. Add the onion, and let cook until slightly softened, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add the carrot and celery, and season with 1 teaspoon salt. Cook and stir until the onion is translucent, about 3 to 4 minutes more.
Meanwhile, put the ground meats in a large bowl, and pour the wine over the meat into the bowl. Use a fork to stir and crumble the meat to mix with the wine and break the meat into small clumps. Add the meat to the pot, season with 1 teaspoon salt, and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon to break down the clumps, until the meat has given up all of its liquid. Increase heat to medium-high, and reduce away the liquid until you hear a crackling sound coming from the bottom of the pan, about 15 minutes in all.
When the bottom of the pan is dry and the meat is lightly browned, pour in the tomatoes and slosh out the cans with 2 cups hot water. Pour that into the pot along with the bay leaves, and season with the peperoncino, cinnamon, and remaining salt.
Bring the sauce to a boil, then lower the heat to a rapid simmer. Set the cover slightly ajar, and cook until the sauce is thick and flavorful, about 1½ hours, adding up to 4 cups more hot water during the cooking time to keep the meat covered in liquid.
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil for pasta. Heat half of the sauce in a large skillet (refrigerate or freeze the remaining sauce for another day!). Plop the tagliatelle into the boiling water. When the pasta is al dente, drain and transfer it directly into the simmering sauce. Drizzle with olive oil, and toss to coat the pasta with the sauce. Remove from heat, and toss in grated cheese. Serve immediately, passing more grated cheese.
6. GIULIANO BUGIALLI
The famous Bolognese ragu is one of the several meat sauces of its area and is the most popular one. Its distinctive features are the sautéing of the meat together with vegetables, the combination of snipped, chopped, or ground beef and pork for the meat, the frequent use of white rather than red wine, and, especially, the inclusion of heavy cream.
RAGU ALLA BOLOGNESE
1 medium-sized red onion, peeled
1 medium-sized carrot, scraped
1 large stalk celery
3 ounces pancetta or prosciutto, in 1 piece, then cut into cubs
6 ounces boneless pork, in cubes
4 tablespoons (2ounces) sweet butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound ripe, fresh tomatoes, or 1 pound canned tomatoes, preferably imported Italian, drained
2 cups dry white wine
Salt, FGBP
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
¾ cup lukewarm beef broth, preferably homemade
¾ cup heavy cream
Finely chop the onion, carrot, and celery on a board. Coarsely grind the pancetta, beef and pork all together in a meat grinder or mince with a knife. Heat the butter and oil in a heavy, flameproof casserole of terra cotta, lined copper, or enameled iron over medium heat. When the oil mixture is warm, add the chopped vegetables and the ground meats, and sauté for 10’. Stirring every so often with a wooden spoon.
If using fresh tomatoes, cut into pieces. Press fresh or canned tomatoes through a food mill, using the disc with smallest holes, into a crockery or glass bowl. Add the wine to the casserole and let it evaporate for 5’, Add the strained tomatoes and simmer for 20’. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, then ad the broth, cover the casserole, and simmer for 45’. Stirring every so often with a wooden spoon. Add the cream, mix very well, lower the heat, and reduce for 20’, for the last 5’, remove the lid from casserole.
7. JULIA DELLA CROCE
"The Classic Italian Cookbook"
1 c. fresh or canned drained tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped, with juice reserved
2 T. unsalted butter
1/2 T. EVOO
1 oz. pancetta, finely chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 small celery rib with leaves, finely chopped
1 T. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
6 oz. lean ground beef
3 oz. ground pork
1 oz. mortadella, finely chopped, optional
salt, to taste
1/3 c. good quality dry white wine
1/3 c. milk
good pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
2 T. tomato paste
2/3 c. meat broth or good stock
1 quantity pasta fresca cut into tagliatelle, or 1 1/2 lb. dried pasta such as fusilli or orecchiette
freshly ground white or black pepper, to taste
freshly grated Parmesan (pref. parmagianno reggiano)
1.Strain tomato juice and discard seeds. Set aside the chopped tomatoes and their juice.
2. In a large heavy-bottomed pan or deep skillet, melt 1 1/2 T. of butter with the oil. Stir in the pancetta and saute until lightly colored.
3.Add the onion, celery, carrot and parsley, and saute until softened but not browned, about 12 minutes. Keep the heat very low, and add the ground meat, mortadella (if using), and the salt. Allow the meat to color lightly, about two minutes, and use a wooden spoon to break up the chunks.
4. Pour in the wine. Simmer very gently until the alcohol evaporates and the liquid begins to be absorbed, about 3 minutes.
5. Add the milk and nutmeg, and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste, dissolved in 1/4 c. of broth. Add the tomatoes and juice. As soon as the sauce begins to simmer, turn the heat down as low as possible. Cover partially and cook for at least 4 hours, stirring occasionally. Add the remaining broth as the sauce cooks.
6. When the sauce is thick, creamy, and fragrant, remove it from heat and stir in the remaining butter and pepper. Check the seasoning.
7. Bring 4 quarts of salted water to a rapid boil. Cover the pot, and as soon as the water returns to a boil, remove the lid and stir again. Cook the fresh pasta for 10 seconds after the water has returned to the boil, then drain immediately, or cook the dried pasta until al dente, then drain.
8. Transfer the pasta to a warm serving bowl, toss with the sauce, and sprinkle with Parmesan. Serve immediately.
8. CLAUDIA RODEN
Serves 6 to 8.
Bolognese Sauce (Ragu di Carne Alla Bolognese)
4 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion -- finely chopped
1 medium carrot -- finely chopped
1 stalk celery -- finely chopped
1 clove garlic - minced
1/2 cup mushrooms (optional) - diced
1/4 pound pancetta -- finely chopped
3/4 pound ground beef, pork or veal, or mixture of 3
1 1/4 cups dry red wine
4 tablespoons tomato puree
1 1/4 cups meat stock
salt & pepper
2/3 cup heavy cream
Heat the butter and oil in a deep saucepan, add the vegetables and fry until they soften and brown lightly. Add the pancetta and ground meat and fry until the meat changes color. Add wine, simmer until it reduces to half, add seasoning, tomato puree and little stock. Cook slowly, covered, stirring occasionally and gradually stirring in all the stock. After 1 1/2 hours, stir in the cream and and simmer for another 1/2 hour or until sauce has a thick consistency. Serve with tagliatelle, penne or ziti.
Source: "The Good Food of Italy, pg. 113
9. HESTON BLUMENTHAL
Recipe: Spaghetti Bolognese
As you might expect from a classic of the Italian kitchen, this involves no special equipment, just a long, slow simmer to allow the flavours to combine. However, I’ve added in a few things to boost those flavours. Caramelising onions with star anise produces vibrant flavour compounds that really enhance the meaty notes of the sauce, and the oaky quality of the chardonnay complements the sherry vinegar in the tomato compote. Finishing the compote on a high heat captures something of the fried character I enjoyed at Trattoria della Gigina. The use of milk might seem strange but it’s a standard part of many Italian ragù recipes: as it cooks, the proteins and sugars in milk react to give extra flavour and body.
Timing: Once the meat is browned and the caramelised onions are ready (an hour’s work at most) the sauce is virtually left to simmer unattended for 8 hours. Do the prep first thing in the morning and then the day’s your own until it’s time to serve up dinner (especially if you prepare the tomato compote in advance, though even this involves a fairly simple preparation, followed by a slow, carefree simmer). You can even do all the cooking of the Bolognese in advance, then simply warm it through and add the tarragon bouquet garni on the day.
For the sauce base:
125ml extra virgin olive oil
250g oxtail, boned and minced
250g pork shoulder, cut into 1cm cubes
375ml oaked chardonnay
1 star anise
2 large onions (about 450g), finely sliced*
2 large cloves of garlic
2 large onions (about 450g), finely diced
3 large carrots (about 400g), finely diced
3 celery stalks (about 125g), finely diced
250ml whole milk
For the tomato compote:
975g ripe tomatoes
1 tsp salt
200ml extra virgin olive oil
3 large cloves of garlic
1 large onion (about 225g), finely diced
1 heaped tsp coriander seeds
1 star anise
3 cloves
4-5 drops Tabasco
4-5 drops Thai fish sauce
2 tsps Worcestershire sauce
1 heaped tbsp tomato ketchup
30ml sherry vinegar
1 bouquet garni (consisting of 7 sprigs of fresh thyme and 1 fresh bay leaf)
For the finished spaghetti Bolognese:
1 batch of tomato compote
100g good quality spaghetti per person
sherry vinegar, to taste
Parmesan cheese (Parmigiano Reggiano)
1 bouquet garni (in a sheet of leek, wrap 6 tarragon leaves, 4 sprigs of parsley and the leaves from the top of a bunch of celery)
unsalted butter
extra virgin olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Preparing the Sauce Base
1. Place a large, heavy-bottomed frying pan over a medium heat for 5 minutes. Crush the star anise and bag it up in a square of muslin. Add this to the pan, along with 25ml oil and the sliced onions. Cook for 20 minutes, or until the onions are soft and caramelised, stirring occasionally. Set aside.
2. Meanwhile, preheat another large, heavybottomed frying pan over a low heat for 5 minutes. Mince the garlic. Pour 50ml oil into the pan, then tip in the garlic, onions, carrots and celery and cook this soffritto over a medium- low heat for about 20 minutes, or until the raw onion smell has gone. Transfer the soffritto to a bowl and wipe clean the pan.
3. Place the pan over a high heat for 10 minutes. Pour in 50ml olive oil and wait until it starts smoking: it must be hot enough so the meat browns rather than stews. Add the cubed pork and the minced oxtail. Stir until browned all over. (To brown properly, all the meat has to touch the surface of the pan. If it doesn’t, do it in batches.) Tip the browned meat into a sieve over a bowl (to allow the fat to drain off), then transfer the meat to a large pot or casserole. Deglaze the pan by adding a splash of wine, bringing it to the boil, and then scraping the base of the pan to collect all the tasty bits stuck to the bottom. Once the liquid has reduced by half, pour it into the large pot containing the meat.
4. Remove the bag of star anise from the caramelised onions and then tip the onions into the large pot containing the meat. Add the remaining wine and deglaze the frying pan (as in step 3). When the wine has reduced by half, pour it into the large pot. Add the soffritto to the pot as well.
5. Place the pot of Bolognese over a very low heat. Pour in the milk and enough water to cover entirely, and simmer very gently without a lid for 6 hours, stirring occasionally. At all times the ingredients should be covered by the liquid, so be prepared to add more water. (Don’t worry if the milk becomes slightly granular: it won’t affect the end result.)
Preparing The Tomato Compote
1. Bring a large pan of water to the boil. Fill a large bowl with ice-cold water. Remove the cores from the tomatoes with a paring knife. Blanch the tomatoes by dropping them into the boiling water for 10 seconds and then carefully removing them to the bowl of ice-cold water. Take them out of the water immediately and peel off the split skins. (If the tomatoes are not ripe enough, make a cross with a sharp knife in the underside of each, to encourage the skins to come away. They can be left in the hot water for an extra 10 seconds or so, but it’s important that they don’t overheat and begin to cook.)
2. Cut the tomatoes in half vertically. Scoop out the seeds and the membrane with a teaspoon, over a chopping board. Roughly chop the seeds and membrane, then tip them into a sieve over a bowl. Sprinkle over the salt and leave for 20 minutes to extract their juice, after which you can discard the seeds and membrane, reserving only the juice.
3. Roughly chop the tomato flesh and set aside.
4. Meanwhile, place a large, heavy-bottomed pan over a low heat. Add 100ml of the olive oil. Mince the garlic, then put it into the pan along with the onion. Cook for 10-15 minutes, until soft but not coloured.
5. Crush the coriander and put it in a muslin bag, along with the star anise and the cloves. Add it to the softened onions and garlic.
6.Take the juice drawn from the tomato seeds and membrane and add it to the onions and garlic along with the tomato flesh.
7. Add the Tabasco, fish sauce, Worcestershire sauce, tomato ketchup and sherry vinegar. Drop in the bouquet garni and cook over a low heat for 2 hours.
8. To add a roasted note to the compote, add the remaining oil and turn up the heat to high. Fry the compote for 15-20 minutes, stirring regularly to make sure it doesn’t catch, then pour off any olive oil not absorbed by the compote. Set aside a little to coat the cooked pasta. ( The rest can be stored in a jar and makes a great base for a salad dressing. The compote itself will keep in the fridge for a week.)
Cooking The Spaghetti Bolognese
1. Stir the tomato compote (including the bag of spices) into the Bolognese sauce and cook over a very low heat for a final 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
2. Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil for the pasta. For every 100g of pasta, you’ll need 1 litre of water and 10g salt. (If you don’t have a large enough pan it’s essential to use two pans rather than overcrowd one.)
3. Put the spaghetti into the pan, give it a stir, then bring back to the boil and cook until the pasta is just tender but with a bite. Check the cooking time on the packet and use that as a guideline, but taste it every few minutes as this is the only way to judge when the pasta is ready.
4. Before taking the Bolognese sauce off the heat, check the seasoning and then add some sherry vinegar (tasting as you go) to balance the richness of the sauce. Add a generous grating of Parmesan (but not too much, as it can make the sauce overly salty) and remove the sauce from the heat. Take out the original thyme and bay bouquet garni and the bag of spices. Replace these with the parsley and tarragon bouquet garni, stir in 100g of unsalted butter and let the sauce stand for 5 minutes.
5. Once the pasta is cooked, drain, and rinse it thoroughly. Return to the pot to warm through. (Since the ragù is not going to be mixed with the pasta, it needs to be rinsed to prevent it becoming starchy and sticking together.) Add a generous knob of butter (about 50g per 400g of pasta) and coat with olive oil and the reserved oil from the final frying of the compote. To serve, wind portions of pasta around a carving fork and lay them horizontally in wide, shallow bowls. Top with the Bolognese sauce and finish with a grating of Parmesan.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6530258
10. WAVERLEY ROOT
This is the recipe for Ragu Bolognese, "North Italian Meat Sauce" from the book.
1/4 pound smoked ham, coarsely chopped
1 cup coarsely chopped onion
1/4 cup coarsely chopped carrot
1/2 cup chopped celery
4 tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. olive oil
3/4lb. round steak, ground twice,
1/4lb. lean pork, ground twice,
1/2 cup white wine
2 cups beef stock
2 tbsp. tomato paste
1/2 pound chicken livers
1 cup heavy cream
Pinch of ground nutmeg
Salt and Pepper
11. LUARD ELIZABETH
“European peasant cookery”
BAKED LASAGNE
Lasagne al forno (Italy)
I was only seventeen when I first learned how to layer a lasagne, a dish every country girl learns at mother’s knee-but which for me, fresh from a childhood in wartime London, was a revelation. My mentor, Michaela, worked during the week in the pension where I was billeted for the furtherance of my artistic education, but her real home, visited only on Sundays, was in the hills above Florence in the village of Fiesole-at that time no more than a little cluster of dwellings clinging to the side of a ravine. The roofs were of baked terracotta, golden as apricots, nestling among grey rocks bright with cistus blossoms, lavender and rosemary. Old cooking pots and empty cans cascaded geraniums and sweet basil from every crack and crevice. In between the dwellings, stony terraces had been planted with a few rows of stumpy vines sheltering a catch crop of lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, peppers, aubergines.
In the city, Michaela cooked for us all every evening-wonderful broths, thick minestrone and clear soups with home-made dumplings. Her speciality was the pasta she would always make herself, piling the kitchen table with elegant pyramids of the yellow and green strings and hanging them up to dry on a washing line strung between the kitchen chairs. How she sauced her beautiful pastas would depend on what was fresh in the market that day. I would help her in the kitchen whenever I could, chopping the garlic and herbs, slicing purple eggplants into creamy rings for her to fry and layer into a dish with meat sauce and white sauce to be baked much as she made her lasagne.
Michaela would sometimes take me, on her one day off a week, back to her little house in Fiesole to spend Sunday with her family. There I would be allowed to help her make what was known as the best lasagne in the village. Her children were grown and had babies of their own, but it was always Michaela who cooked the family’s Sunday lunch, setting it out on the wooden table under the back porch shaded from the early afternoon sun by a neatly trimmed vine. The pasta was preceded, since it was the feast day, by an antipasto-sometimes a few slices of raw Parma ham and salami sausage sliced and served with a pat of butter, sometimes a few chicken livers fried and then spread on slices of toasted bread. There was always a bowl of olives, a big basket of fresh bread, and plenty of wine for the adults. The children came and went from the table at will, and ate as they pleased.
The ragu Michaela made to sauce the dish is found under various names throughout all Italy. In the pensione’s kitchen, she made a large pan of it once a week, and then kept it on the back of the stove, ladle conveniently to hand, ready to add its richness to a sauce or stew.
The Italians rarely put water into a sauce: they appreciate strong, concentrated flavours which give character and piquancy to the chosen grain food-pasta, polenta, rice. Subtlety is found in contrast: bland with spicy, cold with hot, sweet with sour, cooked with raw; it’s this pleasure in surprise which makes the everyday cooking of Italy so sophisticated. Add a natural understanding of texture and form-most obvious in the dozens of different shapes into which pasta is cut, the better to absorb its sauces-and it is no wonder the Italians can claim to have taught the rest of Europe how to cook.
Quantity: Serves 6 as a main dish
Time: Preparation: about 90 minutes
Cooking: 25-30 minutes
For the dough
500g/1 lb strong flour (preferably the special hard durum wheat flour)
1 teaspoon salt
5-6 eggs
1 tablespoon olive oil
Cornmeal or semolina flour for sprinkling (ordinary flour will do)
For the ragu (tomato sauce)
1-2 stalks green celery
1 mature carrot
1 large onion
2 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons prosciutto or pancetta scraps or 100g/4 oz minced meat or a scrap of cheese rind-pecorino or parmesan
Oregano and Italian parsley
4 tablespoons olive oil
750g/1½ lb ripe tomatoes (or 600ml/1 pint passata)
1 tablespoon concentrated tomato paste
300ml/½ pint stock or wine
For the béchamel (white sauce)
75g/3 oz butter or oil
75g/3 oz flour
1 litre/2 pints full cream milk
2 tablespoons mascarpone or cream cheese
About 4 tablespoons grated pecorino, or fontina and parmesan
Salt and pepper
Utensils: A rolling pin or pasta roller cutter, two small saucepans, one large saucepan, large gratin dish
Pour the flour and salt together directly onto the clean scrubbed surface of the kitchen table, or into a large bowl. You will need plenty of elbow room.
Mix the eggs together. Make a dip in the flour and pour in the eggs and the oil. Work the liquid into the flour with the hook of your hand, using a circular motion to draw in the flour at the edges. Add an extra tablespoon of water if you need it to make a soft pliable dough. This process can be started in your mixer and finished by hand, but you should knead steadily for 10 minutes.
You will soon develop your own method: Michaela used the flat of one hand to turn the ball of dough, while she knuckled the edges into the middle with the other (an action she also used to knead her bread dough for pizza). When the dough is smooth and elastic, oil the outside lightly, cover it with a cloth or clingfilm, and leave it to rest for 20-30 minutes while you make the tomato sauce.
Wash and chop the celery and carrot finely. Peel and chop the onion. The neatest way of chopping an onion is to make close, parallel cuts from the top to the bottom (without cutting right through) which you then cross at right angles with another set of parallel cuts. Now you can slice the onion as if across for rings, and it will yield little squares. Peel and crush the garlic. Finely chop the ham, if using. Chop the herbs. Heat the oil gently in a frying pan. Fry the onion and the garlic first until transparent-they should not be allowed to caramelize or the sauce will taste bitter. Add the celery, carrot, ham and (optional) meat and fry for a moment, until the meat stiffens and loses its pink colour. Meanwhile, pour boiling water over the tomatoes to loosen the skin if you are using fresh ones. Peel, de-seed, and chop them. Add the tomatoes and tomato paste (and a teaspoon of sugar if you are using the non-Mediterranean variety of tomato). Stir in the stock or wine. Put the sauce, lidded, on the back burner to simmer until you are ready to use it-an hour is not too long. Adjust the seasoning at the very end.
Return your attention to the pasta. Divide the dough into 6 pieces. Flour the board or table, and roll each piece out so fine you can nearly see the wood of the board through it. Sprinkle the rolled out dough with a handful of coarse-ground polenta or semolina and leave it for another 15 minutes to rest under a damp cloth or covered with clingfilm.
Now you’re ready to roll the pasta. The easiest method is with a pasta roller, an implement which bolts onto the kitchen table like a tiny mangle, and operates on the same principle. Cut the dough into 6 long sausages, cover all but one, and feed it through the mangle. Roll the dough thin enough by progressively decreasing the gaps between the rollers. (You will not need the cutter slots for lasagne.) While the pasta rests for another half hour, make the béchamel sauce.
Melt the butter in a small pan. Stir in the flour and cook it gently until it looks sandy but has not yet taken colour. Heat the milk and whisk it in, beating to avoid lumps. Simmer the sauce for 5 minutes, till it no longer tastes floury. Beat in the cream cheese or cream.
Set your largest pan of salted water on to boil. Have ready a bowl of cold water and lay a clean dish cloth ready for draining the pasta.
Back to the rested pasta: cut the sheets into 4-inch squares. Throw them into the boiling water in small batches. Give the water a stir to keep the leaves separate. Make sure the water reboils fast, and cook the pasta for 1 minute only. Lift each piece out with a draining spoon and pass it through the bowl of cold water as it comes out, then transfer it to the cloth to wait for the next step. The cold water stops the pieces sticking together.
Now assemble the dish: spread a ladleful of the white sauce over the base of your gratin dish. Cover it with a single layer of pasta, overlapping the squares. Ladle a generous layer of tomato sauce over all and top with another layer of pasta, a layer of white sauce and sprinkle with a tablespoon of grated cheese. And so on until all is used up. Finish with white sauce and top with cheese. You can make as many layers as the shape of your dish dictates, but always start and finish with white sauce. Sprinkle a few flakes of butter over the top. At this stage, you can leave the assembled lasagne to be baked later.
Preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C/Gas 5.
Bake for 20-30 minutes (depending on how cool it was), until the top is brown and bubbling. Follow with a salad-perhaps fennel dressed with lemon juice and the thick fresh first-pressing olive oil of Tuscany, or a crisp salad of curly endive. No need for anything else-though a Florentine might feel short-changed if he didn’t get his teeth into a bistek. Red wine should accompany. Michaela would be proud of you.
Suggestions:
• This makes plenty of pasta-maybe more than you need. If you think you have too much (and it is up to you how many layers you use) cut the rest into noodles for another meal: slice the leftover raw sheets of pasta into strips (see the tagliatelle recipe which follows) or push them through the cutter of the pastaroller; then drop handfuls from a height onto a floured board and bag up for storage after 15-20 minutes. They will keep in a plastic bag in the fridge for a week, as long as you like in the freezer. Or they can be dried for storage: loop them over a string in a current of air, and leave to dry till brittle. Or leave handfuls on the board, pick them up and drop them down every now and again, and let them dry out in hanks.
• Flavour the béchamel with a couple of handfuls of spinach, cooked and drained and finely chopped.
• For a vegetarian version, replace the meat with mushrooms. Or use both.
• To make cannelloni al forno, prepare the pasta and sauces as above, but roll the squares of cooked pasta round a tablespoon of the ragu, pack the rolls into an oiled gratin dish, cover with béchamel, finish with grated cheese and bake as for the lasagne.
12. ELIZABETH DAVID
SAUCE BOLOGNESE FOR SPAGHETTI
½ small tin Italian tomato paste, 2 oz mushrooms or mushroom stalks, 2 oz minced raw beef, 2 oz chicken livers, 1 onion, 1 clove of garlic, basil, salt and pepper, 2 lumps of sugar, a little oil, butter, or dripping, stock or water, ½ glass wine.
Into a small thick pan put a tablespoon of oil, butter, or dripping. In this fry the chopped onion until it is golden. Add the minced beef, the chopped mushrooms, and the chicken livers. Cook until the beef is slightly fried - only about 3 minutes.
Now add a small glass of wine, red or white, and let it bubble until reduced by half. Put in the tomato paste, add the basil, seasoning and the sugar and enough stock or water to make the sauce of a creamy consistency, but thinner than you finally require, for it will reduce in the cooking.
With the point of a knife crush the clove of garlic and add to the sauce. Put the lid on the pan and simmer very slowly for 30 minutes at least. The longer the better, so that the essence of the meat penetrates the sauce. You can leave it at the bottom of a slow oven for as long as you like. Be sure to have it very hot before serving with your spaghetti.
13. JAMES PETERSON
Bolognese Sauce
Most Bolognese sauce recipes call for browning chopped meat with aromatic vegetables and then simmering the meat with tomatoes. In this method, you slowly simmer larger pieces of meat, which allows the sauce to develop a deeper, more complex flavor and makes it possible to eliminate every trace of fat.
MAKES ABOUT 5 QUARTS
5 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch cubes
Salt
Pepper
6 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 large carrots, peeled and finely chopped
Nine 14½-ounce cans tomatoes, drained, seeded, and chopped, or 20 tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped
Bouquet garni
2 cups full-bodied red wine
½ cup red wine vinegar, or to taste
Sugar, if needed
Season the meat with salt and pepper. In a pot large enough to hold the stew, heat 3 tablespoons of the oil over high heat. Working in batches, brown the meat on all sides. This should take about 20 minutes for each batch.
Pour the burned oil out of the pot, return the pot to medium heat, and add the remaining oil, garlic, onion, and carrots. Sweat (cook gently to release the juices) for about 10 minutes, or until the vegetables brown slightly. Return the meat to the pot and add the tomatoes, bouquet garni, wine, and ½ cup wine vinegar, bring to a simmer, and simmer gently, uncovered, for 3 hours. Remove from the heat and let cool. Ideally, refrigerate overnight. Spoon off and discard any fat that has congealed on top.
Remove the meat from the sauce and let cool until cool enough to handle. Using your fingers, break up the meat into shreds. Return the sauce to high heat and simmer to thicken slightly. Discard the bouquet garni. Stir the shredded meat into the sauce.
Season the sauce with salt and pepper. Taste and adjust with a little sugar and with more vinegar if needed. Strangely, if the sauce tastes acidic, vinegar helps attenuate the acidity. Store for up to 5 days in the fridge or several months in the freezer.
14. MARCUS WAREING
BAKED PENNE WITH BOLOGNESE
Although there are many contenders for the crown, bolognese is probably the king of pasta sauces. It’s often tossed with pasta and sprinkled with freshly grated Parmesan, but here’s a baked version with creamy Taleggio cheese. This is a great dish to feed a crowd, because it can be prepared ahead and cooked when you need it.
SERVES 6
2 tsp fine table salt
1lb 2oz (500g) dried penne rigate or plain penne
olive oil
1lb 2oz (500g) Taleggio cheese, thinly sliced
2 tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, to finish
FOR THE BOLOGNESE SAUCE
3 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
4 celery ribs, strings removed and finely chopped
2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
4 sprigs of fresh thyme
4 sprigs of fresh marjoram
2 bay leaves
1lb 2oz (500g) lean ground beef, such as sirloin or round
2 tbsp tomato paste
10 ripe plum or roma tomatoes, peeled, deseeded, and chopped, or 14oz (400g) can crushed tomatoes
sea salt and freshly milled
black pepper
First make the bolognese sauce. Heat the oil and butter in a large, heavy pan over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, carrots, garlic, and herbs, and cook until the vegetables are light golden brown. Add the ground beef and cook until it starts to color, stirring to break up any lumps. Season and stir in the tomato paste. Cook for 5 minutes longer, then stir in the tomatoes and 1 cup water. Cover and cook over low heat for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
Bring a large pot of water to a rapid boil over high heat. Add the salt, then the pasta, and stir well. Cover the pan and bring the water back to a boil, then take the lid off and turn the heat down slightly. Boil for 10-12 minutes, or according to package directions, stirring frequently, until the pasta is al dente (tender, but still with a little bite).
Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C).
Drain the pasta well in a colander, then transfer to a very large bowl. Pour the sauce into the bowl and mix well, moistening with a splash of olive oil. Taste for seasoning. Transfer to a large baking dish and lay the slices of Taleggio on top, overlapping them slightly. Bake for 30 minutes until the cheese is golden brown and bubbling. Serve hot, sprinkled with chopped parsley and black pepper.
15. MARK BITTMAN
“How to cook everything : 2000 simple recipes for great food”
Meat Sauce, Bolognese Style Ragu
MAKES: A little more than 4 cups (enough for about 3 pounds pasta)
TIME: At least 3 hours, largely unattended
Ragu doesn’t require much in the way of work, but it does require occasional attention over the course of a morning or afternoon (the variation, however, is pretty fast). Double or triple the recipe if you like (it freezes well).
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
1/4 cup chopped bacon or pancetta
8 ounces lean ground beef
8 ounces lean ground pork (or use all beef)
3/4 cup dry white wine or juice from the tomatoes
One 28- or 35-ounce can whole plum tomatoes, drained (reserve the juice if you’re using it instead of wine)
1 cup beef or chicken stock
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup cream, half-and-half, or milk
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
Put the olive oil in a large, deep skillet or saucepan over medium-low heat. When hot, add the onion, carrot, celery, and bacon. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. Add the ground meat and cook, stirring and breaking up any clumps, until all traces of red are gone, about 5 minutes. Add the wine, raise the heat a bit, and cook, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid is evaporated, about 5 minutes.
Crush the tomatoes with a fork or your hands and add them to the pot; stir, then add the stock. Turn the heat to low and cook at a slow simmer, stirring occasionally and breaking up the tomatoes and any clumps of meat that remain. After an hour or so, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook for at least another hour, until much of the liquid has evaporated and the sauce is very thick. (At this point, you may refrigerate the sauce for a day or two or freeze it for several weeks. Reheat before proceeding.)
Add the cream and cook for another 15 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
Serve immediately with any cooked pasta, passing grated Parmesan, if you like, at the table.
16. NANCY SILVERSTON
Prior to his working at Del Posto, Matt went to Italy with Mario for a story for Gourmet. The premise of the story was that Mario was taking his chefs and the general manager from Del Posto to Italy, specifically to the center of Emilia-Romagna, to show them what it was like to eat there. They ate sixty-two courses in five days and Matt had a lot of dishes to talk about, but the one he was most excited about was the ragù bolognese he had at Diana, a restaurant just outside the main piazza in Bologna. It was as if his eyes had just been opened. He called me right after that meal: “It was rich but delicate and with a touch of sweetness,” he told me. When they got back to New York, while Matt was relegated to the soup station of the kitchen, Mark Ladner and Mark’s team at Del Posto attempted to create a bolognese that captured the spirit of the one at Diana. When Matt tasted Mark’s version, he called me again, excited: “They did it!” he said. “They nailed it.” And that-the Del Posto version of the Diana bolognese-was what Matt was going for when we opened Mozza. Having eaten at Diana myself, I can also tell you that Matt nailed it. When making bolognese, the most important thing is to go slow. You never want the meat to cook directly against the pan, because you want to braise the meat, not brown it. The “secret” to it is the Soffritto, which takes several hours to make-so give yourself time. This is slow food!
MAKES OVER 1 QUART OF RAGÙ OR ENOUGH FOR MORE THAN 16 SERVINGS; PASTA WITH SAUCE SERVES 6
for the ragù bolognese
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
8 garlic cloves
2½ ounces pancetta, roughly chopped or ground
1 cup Soffritto
½ of a 4.5-ounce tube (¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon) double-concentrated tomato paste
1 pound ground veal
1 pound ground pork
2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more to taste
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup dry white wine
3 cups Basic Chicken Stock
¾ cup whole milk
for finishing and serving the pasta
Kosher salt
¾ cup Basic Chicken Stock, plus more as needed or pasta-cooking water
3 teaspoons unsalted butter
12 ounces Garganelli
6 tablespoons finishing-quality extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus a wedge for grating
3 tablespoons freshly grated pecorino romano
To make the ragù, combine the oil and garlic in the bowl of a miniature food processor fitted with a metal blade or the jar of a blender and purée. Add the pancetta and purée, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl or jar occasionally, until the ingredients form a homogenous paste. Transfer the pancetta-garlic paste to a large sauté pan and cook over medium heat until the fat from the pancetta is rendered, about 5 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent the garlic from browning. Stir in the Soffritto and cook for about 1 minute. Move the vegetables to create a bare spot in the pan, add the tomato paste to that spot, and cook for 1 minute, stirring, to caramelize the tomato paste slightly. Add the veal and pork; season with the salt, pepper, and nutmeg; and cook, stirring occasionally, until all the juices released from the meat have cooked off and the pan is almost dry, about 10 minutes. Add the wine, increase the heat to medium high, and cook until the wine has evaporated and the pan is almost dry, about 10 minutes. Add the chicken stock, bring it to a simmer, reduce the heat, and simmer the meat with the stock for about 2 hours, stirring occasionally to prevent the meat from sticking to the bottom of the pan, until the stock has almost all cooked off but the pan is not completely dry. Add the milk and simmer until the ragù returns to a thick, saucy consistency, 30 to 40 minutes. Use the ragù, or allow it to cool to room temperature, transfer it to an airtight container, and refrigerate it for up to three days; freeze it for as long as three months. Warm the ragù over medium heat before serving, adding enough water to loosen it to a saucelike consistency.
To finish and serve the pasta, fill a pasta pot or large stockpot with 6 quarts of water, add 6 tablespoons of salt, and bring the water to a boil over high heat. If you are not using a pasta pot, place a colander in the sink or have a wire strainer handy for lifting the pasta out of the water.
While the water is coming to a boil, combine 1½ cups of the ragù, the chicken stock, and butter in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Stir the ingredients to combine and heat, stirring occasionally, until the butter is melted and the sauce is warmed through, adding more chicken stock, if necessary, to obtain a loose, sauce consistency. Turn off the heat while you cook the garganelli.
Remove the garganelli from the refrigerator or freezer and drop them into the boiling water. Stir to prevent the pasta from sticking together, partially cover the pot so the water returns to a boil quickly and continues boiling, and cook the pasta until it’s al dente, about 2 minutes. About 1 minute before the pasta is done, place the sauce over high heat. Lift the pasta out of the cooking water, or reserve 1 cup of the water and drain the pasta, and immediately add it to the pan with the sauce. Cook the pasta with the sauce for 2 minutes, stirring gently with a rubber spatula so you don’t tear the pasta, to stain the pasta with the sauce, adding some of the reserved pasta water if the pasta is dry and sticky instead of slippery and glistening. Turn off the heat and add the finishing-quality olive oil, stirring vigorously and shaking the pan to emulsify the sauce. Add the grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and pecorino romano and stir to combine.
Pile the garganelli in the center of each of six plates, dividing them evenly, and spoon any sauce remaining in the pan over the pasta. Use a microplane or another fine grater to grate a light layer of Parmigiano-Reggiano over each plate, and serve.
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