I'm Going Bananas

Ragu

A bowl of penne pasta tossed in ragu sauce with ground beef and topped with chopped parsley
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Prep
20 min
Cook
1 hr
Yield
Serves 10
Difficulty
medium

Years ago our grandparents would make this pasta sauce while we visited them in a small seaside town called Moneglia, on Italy’s west coast. As we grew up, we repeatedly tried to get the recipe to taste how we once remembered it. Every time we asked our grandmother we got a different recipe — it was never the same, until recently our aunt came to visit. We asked her to make us a ragù sauce, and there it was, as good as our memories had created. Special thanks to Adriana Botto.

Ingredients for ragu labeled -- olive oil, tomato paste, tomato sauce, bay leaves, rosemary, celery, garlic, whole tomatoes, onions, and parsley

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs ground beef
  • 2 medium onions
  • 5-6 medium garlic cloves
  • 2 tbsp fresh rosemary
  • 1 stick of celery
  • 5 bay leaves
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp oregano
  • 1 entire parsley bunch without stems (around 2 cups)
  • ~1 cup olive oil
  • 2 cans of tomato sauce (15 oz each)
  • 1 can of whole peeled tomatoes (15 oz)
  • 2 tbsp tomato paste
  • 1/2 cup water

Instructions

  1. In a blender, place these ingredients in the following order: garlic, rosemary, onion, celery, parsley, and oil.
  2. Blend so that the ingredients are finely chopped and not completely puréed. It may be necessary to use a wooden spoon to push down ingredients to the blade -- the pulse button helps so it doesn't turn into a smoothie.
  3. In a large pot, sauté the vegetable mix with some olive oil for about 15 to 20 minutes. It should turn darker green, and you'll notice the olive oil also takes on a green tint.
  4. Add the ground beef and cook on high for another 15 or 20 minutes, until the beef is dark brown (the meat should taste grilled, not boiled).
  5. Add the bay leaves and the salt.
  6. Add the tomato sauce, blended whole peeled tomatoes, tomato paste, and the oregano. Add water.
  7. Cook on medium-low with a lid (not completely closed) for about 45 minutes to an hour, reducing the sauce.
  8. The oil should turn a dark red/orange.

Notes

  • This recipe will make enough sauce for about 10-12 servings, tossed with your pasta of choice. Extra sauce can be refrigerated for a few days or frozen for longer periods.