Find Comfort in Food
In times like this it is important to find comfort. For me that usually means solid comfort food, and that often includes some kind of Bolognese, Ragù or other meat based tomato sauce and good pasta. When my wife was asked on her bachelorette weekend what my favorite food was she said pasta. I answered with fried chicken. It’s one of those questions I do not really have an answer for since I just LOVE food too much to only choose one. But as always, she was right. If there can only be one, some kind of pasta dish would most likely be on top of my list.
A quick word on good Pasta:
Dry Pasta in Italy is mainly made of Durum Semolina. Durum is a special type of very hard and amber colored wheat. Semolina is just a little bit coarser than flour. The amount of semolina used vs conventional flour really makes a difference in the color but also in the bite of the pasta. In my opinion, a real „al dente“ firm bite can only be achieved with 100% durum semolina pasta. Dry Pasta is made using a pasta extruder. A big machine that pushes the pasta dough though a form or die under high pressure. High quality pasta is made with brass dies. They give the pasta a rough texture and a duller look than budget pasta. Oh…and if you now think that you need to go to a specialty store and drop 5$ on a box of pasta…Nope. I buy my „premium“ pasta at Aldi or any other grocery store.
Now lets get Saucy:
I usually keep it pretty simple with a good Ragù. But there are some rules that I won’t break.
Warm up a heavy pot and get some good olive oil in there. Don’t put in any meat or onions till that oil is at the temperature you want it at. Flavor!
If you use fresh tomatoes make sure to chop them and cook them down in a separate pan before adding. This will intensify the flavor and will make the sauce nice and thick. You can always use tomato paste instead.
Use good Parmigiano! Mainly because I love snacking on it.
Take your time. A good Ragù will take several hours.
Other than that I really don’t stick to too many rules. I use what I have in the fridge. I often add mushrooms at the end and use herbs like fresh thyme or rosemary.
There is a style of Ragù I like to make in which I use beef ribs. Just add them to the sauce instead of the ground meat and cook it for 3-6 hours or till the meat just falls off the bones. Pull out the bones and you have the best tasting Ragù you have ever made. I believe one could use venison ribs instead. I haven’t tried it yet but it is on my list.
Venison Ragù
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp. of good olive oil
- 4 strips of bacon or pancetta chopped
- 3 stalks of celery finely chopped
- 2 onions finely chopped (I prefer yellow)
- 2-4 carrots finely chopped (depending on size)
- 1lb of ground venison
- 6oz of tomato paste or 4-6 reduced tomatoes
- 3 cups of venison or beef broth (bone broth preferred)
- 1 cup of whole milk
- Parmesan cheese (the good stuff)
Instructions
- Warm up a heavy pot and add oil. Now add bacon or pancetta and let the bacon fat devolve in the oil. Take out bacon and set aside. Add onions, celery and carrots and sauté until frequent and soft. Add venison and bacon and saute until brown. Add tomato paste and let everything cook for 3-4 minutes. Deglaze pot with wine. Add broth and let everything simmer on low heat for 2 hours stirring occasionally.
- Add milk and let everything simmer for another 30 minutes. Done.
- Now boil your favorite pasta or whatever is in your pentry, top it with Ragù and some graded Parmesan.
