This Northern Italian style veal and pork ragù will be your go-to sauce for any pasta! This recipe has amazing flavors and does not require any tomato or tomato puree. The secret is by cooking the it low and slow. Yes, it does take a few hours of your time, but it’ll be all worth it! Since I am a multitasker at heart, I make ragù on a day where I am doing chores at home or trying other recipes. Two birds with one stone.
What’s great about this sauce is that you can make it ahead of time and use it during your weeknight dinners by just cooking the pasta and reheating the sauce! My favorite is to eat it with fresh egg parpadelle pasta. I also use this ragù recipe for making my delicious Northern Italian style lasagne.
INFORMATION ABOUT THIS RECIPE
People usually confuse or interchange the terms ragù with Bolognese. There is, however, a slight difference. Ragù is a broader term to indicate a meat sauce that has been cooked on low heat for several hours. The name comes from French, “ragoût”, which means a stew with vegetables and meat. Bolognese sauce, which is a term you hear more often in Northern America, is a ragù sauce that originated from Bologna in the 1700’s. Therefore, bolognese sauce is a type of ragù. Furthermore, spaghetti Bolognese is a Northern American made dish as authentic ragù is served with fresh egg pasta.
Ingredients to make ragù vary from region to region in Italy so you will find a broad variety of ragù sauces across the country. Because of the climate in Northern Italy regions, their traditional sauces consist barely of tomatoes, or none at all. However, you don’t necessarily need tomatoes to make amazing flavourful sauce. Like in this recipe, the tomato paste slowly cooked with wine and beef broth add plenty of umami and make this veal and pork ragù so tasty!
Ingredients you will need for this recipe:
TIPS FOR MAKING VEAL & PORK RAGÙ
Blending vegetables: Blending your vegetables results in having all the flavors of each vegetable being absorbed into the sauce. Essentially, it will make the ragù and the vegetables become one. You should not see any trace of vegetables into your final results and it creates this beautiful texture.
Make those vegetables sweat: The key in having a flavorful sauce starts by sweating the blended vegetables slowly so they can release all their fragrances. This will take about 15 minutes. Since they are already blended, some of the juices are already released, which shortens the sweating time as opposed to diced vegetables. Your vegetables should not be burning nor browning too quickly. If they do, you should decrease your heat.
Salt and pepper every step: Especially when making slow cooked sauces, I like to add salt and pepper in every step of adding my ingredients into the pot, but without overdoing it. I find by doing it this way, the ingredients can absorb your salt and pepper. As the sauce reduces, it will also become saltier and this is why you should not go all out either on the salt and pepper!
Patience: Unfortunately, you can’t really cut on the simmering time. Remember that low and slow is the key to sucessfully make this pasta sauce.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Can I use chicken stock instead of beef? You can definitely substitute chicken instead of beef. However, the beef stock or bone broth is prefered because it releases more flavors from the meat and vegetables.
Can I not use wine? If you are not using wine, you can replace with the same amount indicated in this recipe with stock/bone broth. If you are concerned about the alcohol content, it all evaporates. Furthermore, wine brings out so much flavor when making sauces that contain meat.
How to store leftovers ragù? You can refrigerate the sauce in an airtight container up to a week and freeze the remaining up to 6 months.
How to serve refrigerated sauce with pasta?
- In a saucepan on low heat, reheat the quantity of sauce needed.
- Meanwhile, in a pot with salted boiling water, cook pasta al dente.
- Drain the pasta and finish cooking the pasta by adding it to the ragù saucepan.
Never cook fully your pasta because they will become soggy once mixed into the hot ragù. You also want the pasta to finish cooking into the ragù so that it absorbs the sauce.
Equipment
- Medium-sized cast iron French oven or pot
- Blender or food processor
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 medium sized onions roughly chopped
- 3 cloves garlic
- 4 stalks celery roughly chopped
- 4 carrots roughly chopped
- ¼ cup fresh basil leaves
- ½ cup tomato paste
- optional: chili pepper flakes
- 1 lb ground veal
- 1 lb ground pork
- 1 cup red wine
- 5 cups beef bone broth/stock
- Salt & pepper
Instructions
- In a blender or food processor, add onions, garlic, celery, carrots and basil leaves. Blend until a puree consistency is obtained.
- In a medium-sized cast iron French oven or pot on medium-low heat with olive oil, sweat the vegetable pureed mixture until it becomes soft and fragrant. About 15 minutes.
- Add tomato paste and stir. Cook the tomato paste until it becomes rusty orange. Optional: Add chili pepper flakes.
- Add ground veal and pork, breaking all the meat chunks apart to get a fine consistency. Halfway through cooking the meat, add red wine and wait until the alcohol evaporates. Add beef stock or bone broth, bring it to a boil, partially cover with the lid and bring the down to simmer for 3 hours.
