Ragu

• servings: 4
• active time: 1h
• total time: 2h

Ingredients

1 chopped celery stalk

half of a large red onion

1 carrot peeled

5-6 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

1lb of 95% lean ground beef

1 glass of red wine

18oz of tomato puree

Directions

1. Finely chop the celery, onion & carrot, (individually if using a food processor)

2. Put the chopped mixture in a heavy-bottomed saucepan with the olive oil and heat over a medium-high heat. Sweat the vegetables until the red onion becomes translucent

3. Add the ground beef, brown it and make sure that the meat is broken up. The juice will release from the meat. Keep cooking until all the juices of the meat have evaporated scraping the bottom of the pan with your spoon continually to achieve more browning and flavor.

4. At this stage add the wine, making sure to scrape off anything that is stuck to the bottom of the pan...that’s all flavor! Continue to simmer until the wine has reduced and the alcohol has burned off.

5. Finally add the tomato passata and salt to taste. Place the lid slightly ajar on the pan to allow the moisture to evaporate the sauce to slowly thicken.Simmer on a low heat for a minimum of 2 hours maximum 3 hours. Stir occasionally to make sure it is not sticking to the bottom of the pan. After an hour and a half check the consistency if the sauce seems to loose remove the lid to allow it to reduce faster and thicken up. On the other hand if the sauce is too dense add a drop of water, NO MORE VINO.

When the sauce is thick and clings nicely to a spoon when it is held upright, your sauce is ready to use on your pasta.

Notes

Adding milk, cream, or cheese rinds can help the flavor of the sauce.

Try: Pinot Noir or Merlot maybe a not sweet port; cabinet sauvignon was ok, but not amazing