Ragú

Submitted by MichaelC

Ragú, pasta sauce, red sauce, meat sauce, tomato sauce... whatever you want to call it. This is the common pasta sauce with meat. Many of the ingredients are optional and everything is "to taste".

Ingredients

 * olive oil
 * onion, chopped
 * garlic, minced or chopped fine
 * ground beef (optional)
 * sweet and hot itallian sausage (optional)
 * tomato sauce
 * crushed tomatos
 * tomato paste
 * basil
 * oregano
 * parsely
 * bay leaf
 * fennel (optional)
 * salt
 * black pepper
 * sugar (optional)

Cooking Tools

 * large pan or pot
 * wooden spoon
 * chef's knife
 * cutting board
 * french bread or sourdough bread or baguette - oh, this is a tool! believe you me!

Preparation

 * chop onions
 * mince or chop garlic
 * cut up meats if using meat

Directions


Heat olive oil in a large pot or pan. I use a medium heat for most of this. Into the olive oil place the onion and garlic. How much you use is up to you. This will depend on how much sauce you make. Let the onion cook in the oil until it becomes translucent or "sweats". Add meat(s). Add some salt and some black pepper. Cook until meat is browned. At this point you can choose to drain the grease from the meat. I often like to you use it. Whether or not I do depends on how much fat is in the meat and how much grease it produces. That's a whole lot of flavor, so I like to have at least some of it in there.

Add tomato suace, crushed tomao, and some paste. The paste is a thickener. It also has a lot of concentrated flavor. So you don't want to add too much. Add bay leaf. Chop basil, oregano, and parsely. You can use the dried herbs instead. Sometimes I like to add other things like fennel, tarragon, sage, or even rosemary. How much of each you add depends on what flavors you want.

Add salt and black pepper. You can add some sugar to sweeten the sauce a little. This can also help with any tangy quality, but be careful not to over sweeten. A pinch to maybe a couple tbsps in a large pot.

Stir and cook for a bit. Then lower heat and let simmer for a couple hours (1.5-2 hours). Stir occasionally.

Taste from time to time and add seasonings and flavors as desired. This is where the bread comes in. I don't know about you, but growing up, there was always a loaf of bread near the sauce. Over the course of the day we'd tear off a piece and dip into the sauce as it was cooking in order to taste it.