Recipes: Ragu

INGREDIENTS
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 pound chopped meat
Grated Parmesan Cheese
1/4 chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup chopped white onions
3 cloves garlic
6 Ounce Can Tomato Paste
28 Ounce Can Crushed Tomatoes
Oregano
Fresh Basil Leaves
Salt & Pepper

For those of you that think we would actually suggest buying the brand called Ragu, please give us a little more credit.  And, although Ragu brand sauce might be good to some (I personally never bought or tasted it), it would be nice for those wishing to learn where the term came from.  This is not about bashing the big companies who feel they have perfected the sauce and mass marketed it to the world, but the whole point of tradition is doing it the way our ancestors did generations before.  And, you can rest assured, that they did not pour from a jar, heat and serve.  Everything this site is about is our roots, tradition, wasting nothing, and making everything ourselves.  And, this recipe is not difficult at all... so please read on about the real ragu.

Ragu is a meat sauce, common in Northerneastern Italy.  It is basically the chopped meat fried in olive oil, onions, garlic and other ingredients, then added to the marinara or tomato sauce and cooked for another hour or so, thus the sauce takes on the flavor of the meat.  This is best served over rigatoni (wide, flat, ridged noodles) to hold the chopped meat and sauce called, "ragu".  

Add the olive oil and split cloves of garlic to the oil, sautee and add the onions until they are clear or translucent.  Try not to burn the garlic, as it will become bitter.  Combine the chopped meat (equal parts of pork, veal and beef) and fry the meat, breaking it apart until it is browned and cooked.  Add it to the sauce and continue to simmer for 40 minutes or more.