not Massimo's ragu

Yesterday was not a good day for me.  I felt so lucky that I did not have a job to go to because I could barely move.  Yesterday was all about self care.  Moving slowly.  Drinking copious amounts of ginger tea.  Actually, just copious amounts of tea.  Trying to move a stretch some of the pain away.  Today, I just ache which is a fast improvement!  Yesterday, I wished I had some of this ragu in the freezer but I did not.

The wonderful cookbook I picked up the last time I was in the Pacific Northwest, which has all the recipes for family meals, had a picture of Massimo Bottura's ragu in it.  I have watched documentaries on the man and saw what he did at the Rio Olympics about trying to put feeding people who have nothing in the spotlight.  I like what he does.  In documentaries and Instagram, he makes me laugh.  He seems to live life with joy which is important to me.  Well, long story short, in the cookbook for family meals there was a picture of his ragu.  Rich, meaty.  No recipe.  But I knew where to find it.

Off I go to the grocery store which has a decent meat department.  Not wonderful but not bad.  I had to change most of the meats used in Massimo's recipe.  Even doing that, the ragu turned out lovely.  I also did not use his techniques because I do not have a sous-vide.  I will be making this again.  Might be easier in a larger pot with larger quantities.  It is good.

ragu

Note:  I used the ragu recipe in Never Trust a Skinny Italian Chef as a starting point.

1 yellow onion, peeled and diced

1 carrot, peeled and diced

1 celery stalk, washed and diced

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 dried bay leaves

1 sprig rosemary

4 ounces beef bones with marrow or just marrow

2 ounces pancetta steccata (I could not find this style so I used a different style of pancetta), diced

4 ounces mild italian sausage meat

4 ounces veal shank (go up to 8 ounces if you can afford it)

4 ounces beef shank

4 ounces beef flank steak

4 ounces grape tomatoes

3 ounces white wine

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

4 ounces vegetable broth or water

A bit of port to moisten

pasta, I made homemade pasta and got teased about the thick noodles.

In a pan over medium low heat, gently cook the onion, celery, and carrot in the olive oil.  Remove from the heat and transfer to a bowl.  Stir in the bay and rosemary.

Blanche the bone marrow in boiling salted water and drain.

In the pan you used to cook the vegetables, sweat the pancetta.  Add the sausage meat and cook until brown.

Add the other meat and the tomatoes, keeping everything large.  Brown them.  Add the wine and cook a bit.

Remove from the heat and put the vegetables and meats in a slow cooker.  Add the 4 ounces of broth or water. 

Cover and cook until everything is tender.  Watch the liquid level toward the ends.  You do not want burnt bits.

Remove the meats from the slow cooker.  Remove bones and cut up into bite size.  Transfer to a pot on the stove.

I did not have much cooking liquid left so I moistened with port.  Not more then 4 ounces but I did taste a bit as I went.  Season with salt and pepper.  This to your taste.  It may be fine.

Serve over pasta.

Like I said, I wished I had it in the freezer yesterday.  With a salad, lovely comfort food.  Life is good.

Going to need to make this again soon.  Supposedly it will be cooler soon and then that would work well.