Italian Rigatoni Bolognese (Ragu)

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5 from 6 votes

This bolognese sauce is a pork and beef ragu that is cooked for hours and then tossed with pasta.

Prep Time20

Cook Time3

Total Time3 20

Servings:

Author: Melissa Oleary

Ingredients

1 lb ground pork
1 lb ground beef preferably 80/20 mix
1 lb rigatoni or fresh pasta like tagliatelle or pappardelle
1 28 oz can of pureed tomatoes
2 small carrots shredded in food processor
1 small yellow onion shredded in food processor
1 celery rib shredded in food processor
½ cup good quality Italian white wine
1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil best quality you can find
1 teaspoon kosher salt plus more to taste

Instructions

Sauce

In a large pan over medium heat, add your olive oil, carrots, celery and onion and cook for about 4-5 minutes or until they begin to soften.
2 small carrots, 1 small yellow onion, 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil best quality you can find, 1 celery rib
In the same pan add your ground pork and beef and break up into small pieces and cook lightly making sure not to brown the meat but gently cook it.
1 lb ground pork, 1 lb ground beef
Now add all of your wine and cook until the wine almost completely evaporates and gets absorbed into the meat.
½ cup good quality Italian white wine
Once your wine has completely evaporated out (you cannot smell the alcohol anymore) add your tomato puree and mix well.
1 28 oz can of pureed tomatoes
Next, add salt and mix well.
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Cover with a tight fitting lid and turn down heat down to low and allow to gently simmer for at least 2 hours, preferably 3, making sure to check it every 30 minutes or so and give it a good stir.
Taste for seasoning and see if it needs any salt.

Pasta

Bring a large pot of water to boil on the stove.
When the water is boiling salt it well and add your pasta. Follow the instructions on the box of spaghetti for cooking just to al dente. For fresh pasta usually 2-3 minutes is all you need.
1 lb rigatoni
Once the pasta if cooked drain the pasta and place it back into the pot. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta water in case you need to thin the sauce.
Add 1 ladle of the red sauce to the pasta and mix well to prevent it from sticking to itself.

Serve

You can plate this family style by placing your pasta in a large platter or bowl and scooping the meat sauce over top of the pasta.
Toss the pasta and sauce together.
Serve this with freshly grated Parmesan on the side.
Enjoy!

Notes

For leftovers:

If you are doubling the recipe or have enough for leftovers, make sure to store the sauce and the pasta separate. Ideally for leftovers it is best to just make enough pasta for the first night and make enough sauce for 2 nights. On the second night (leftover night) just make a new pot of pasta to go with the sauce.

Nutrition

Nutrition Values are estimates only.

See full nutrition disclaimer here

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Course :Main Course