A big hug, from odds and ends: Butcher's ragu

There are certain foods - and  you know what they are - that make you feel as if someone with big, strong, arms, has wrapped you up and hugged you.  When you need it.  And let's face it, ragazzi, we all need to feel hugged, almost constantly.  So having recipes like this is not an option - it's a requirement. A sort of slow cooked sauce like this makes Annalena feel like her Nana is back there in the kitchen, her arms wrapped around Annalena - at any age, and just making her feel warm and... safe.   And if you make this dish, Annalena hopes you feel as if she's there, doing the same to you - because she will be.

"Butcher's ragu."  So typical of Italian dishes to have a name that says nothing, and says everything.  Whence comes the name?  Well,  the butcher (il macellaria), at the end of the day, would have bits and pieces of meat left over from the day of business.  These bits and pieces were too small to sell the next day, but you can't waste food, can you  (not Italians anyway). So... one would come up with creative ways to use what was left.    There are many such examples in Italian cooking.   This is one.  It's a standardized variation, but the philosophy behind it is the same.  And let Annalena tell you: this is GOOD.  It will take you some time, but you will be SO glad you have this.

This is what you need:  you will need a medium sized carrot:  the type you'd use for soup, and a couple of stalks of celery, with the leaves if they have it.  Also one medium sized onion, and a clove of garlic.  Chop up the vegetables roughly, and then toss them in  your food processor, and pulse them until they have a rough chop size.  Put these aside while you gather the rest of the ingredients.

You need a quarter cup of olive oil, and then also a quarter pound of pancetta, chopped into small bits.  A pound of ground beef.  Also, a half pound of  bits and pieces of prosciutto.  Don't buy slices of the stuff: go to your Italian grocer, and ask him or her, to give you the bits and pieces left. Tell him/her you're making butcher's ragu, and the vendor will either smile, and give you a discount, in which case you should come back and buy GOOD prosciutto in the future, or they will look at you like you're nuts, in which case you should go to a different vendor . (You can also buy prosciutto bones this way, ragazzi. Maybe they'll even give them to you).  

So you have your meet, and your vegetables.  You also need a hefty quarter cup of olive oil, a quarter cup of tomato paste, and then mixed together, a cup each of whole milk, white wine (and keep in mind that champagne is white wine.  That is what Annalena used), and a cup of water.

Now, we're ready to cook. Get a nice wide, heavy bottomed pot.  Enameled iron is best.  WARM (do not HEAT), the olive oil, and add the vegetables you've chopped.  Don't let the heat go much above medium if at all, and saute' the vegetables for a good ten minutes.  These times, by the way, are serious.  Slow cooking is key here.   Stir the vegetables from time to time, and if they start to brown, lower the heat.

After ten minutes, add the beef, and the pancetta.  Start cooking those, for about 8 minutes.  You'll have to break up the beef as it cooks, so that it fragments.  You're cooking this just until the pink is out of the beef.  It will take the 8 minutes, and the pancetta will render out its fat.    Now add the tomato paste, and stir it all together.  Cook all of this for another ten minutes.  The tomato paste will go from bright red, to an almost brick red color.  Taste.  In fact, taste as you go along, and watch how things develop.

Now, after that ten minutes, pour those liquids in, and the prosciutto.  And lower the heat a bit more.  Go and tend to other things, but every now and then stir it.  That's all you have to do.  It will take about an hour, an hour and a quarter, or maybe an hour and a half, to get the liquid to just about evaporate.  At first, it will look like nothing's happening, but be patient. At the end, you'll be wondering "where did the liquid go?"  And you will have, at the end, a complex, WONDERFUL  tasting sauce that makes you feel, well, like someone is hugging you.  And in fact someone is. Because this is a dish that comes out of necessity, and love.  If you had thought that carrots, celery, onions, garlic, chopped meats, and odds and sots of pork, would produce a dish that tasted like this,  you'd be clairvoyant.  But you're not, and neither is Annalena.

As with all ragus, this is a complex, deep sauce, and you don't need much.  Annalena got about 4 cups of sauce at the end, and by American portions, that's enough for 8 servings.  More for real Italians.  On pasta, polenta, or even just as it is.

When it's done, if you feel like it needs salt, or pepper, add it.  But it probably won't.  the pancetta and prosciutto are seasoned very heavily,  and if it tastes a little underseasoned, keep in mind that you'll probably be adding salty cheese at the end.

You'll be working about 2 hours to make this, but believe Annalena: it is time well worth spending.   Give yourself a hug.  Let Annalena give you a hug.  BUT, best of all, make this and give someone you love a hug.  Karma is a boomerang. That's not Italian, but Annalena can attest to it: you hug someone with food, you'll get it back.