Tagliatelle al Ragu Bolonese

Hey, it's cooking bearkitty  ghostbear2k again, bringing an all time Italian classic.
While most of the world is serving “Spaghetti alla Bolognese”, this combination is pretty unknown in Bologna and the Emilia-Romagna.
The more classic form of this dish is made with broad noodles, mostly Tagliatelle and is different from the fast cooked dish you’ll get everywhere around the world as almost a type of ‘fast-food’.
It does not use many ingredients, but it takes time to prepare. Believe me, it is worth the time.

I know I've cooked and even posted the dish in a very similar fashion before, but I decided to step it up a bit.
Got a bit more classic with the added chicken liver, added a bit more to it with the homemade pasta... and changed a few things here and there.
Like I mentioned earlier ... I'm cooking pretty out of intuition, so most of the time when I cook something, I change some things. So don't expect the recipe to be exactly as the one last time ^.^''
That being said ... here we go :3

Ingredients (serves 3-4, depending on your appetite):

For the Ragu:
500g ground beef
150g chicken liver
75g Guanciale or Panchetta (Italian bacon)
4 shallots or 2 small onions
(optional: a bit of leek, as much as you like. You can leave it out without any problems)
2 small carrots
1 piece of celery, sized as you like
1 tbsp tomato paste
Dry red wine (as much as you like)
400ml of beef stock
2 cans of chopped tomatoes (canned tomatoes are usually fully sun riped and therefor very aromatic) or 1 can tomato and 1 pack of passata
1 large twig of rosemary
2-4 twigs of thyme (depending on size)
1 bay leaf
2 sage leafs
fresh oregano and basil after your taste
salt, freshly ground pepper, freshly ground nutmeg (a little)
Parmigiano
Olive oil, clarified butter, butter or lard (or a mix, just as you like)

For the Tagliatelle:
350g flour
4 eggs
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp neutral oil (you can take olive oil as well, but it can turn your raw pasta slightly gray if you keep it in the refridgerator. The grayish color will vanish when cooked. But it's better to freeze your raw pasta, if you decide to keep some for later)


Preparation:

1) Do some mis en place, prepare your stuff, so that you have everything ready when it counts.
Start with the sauce, it will take a long time to simmer, so you can prepare your pasta later.
Peel shallots/onions, celery and carrots. Wash and clean the leek if you use it.
Cut everything, except the leek into very fine cubes, cut the leek into fine strips.
Wash the chicken liver, tap it dry with a paper towel and clean away the pieces of fat, blood vessels and sinew parts. Don't worry, chicken liver doesn't have a lot of stuff to clean up.
Cut the chicken liver into fine pieces. It will turn into some kind of mush, don't worry, it's supposed to do that.
Cut the Guanciale or panchetta into small pieces. Dry off the ground beef a bit with a paper towel, should it be too wet.
Take one can of tomatoes, puree or strain them with a chinois (or use passata). Use the second can just chopped.

2) In a large enough pot heat up some fat, put in the bacon and carefully render it at low heat.
Turn up the heat a little, put in the onions, (leek), carrots, celery and rosemary and thyme twigs. Those herbs need heat and time to deliver their aroma, so you can put them in right from the start. Roast everything, but make sure not to burn it. Add the tomato paste and roast it a bit as well. Now add the ground beef and the chopped chicken liver and cook until the red color has vanished.
Pour in some of the red wine to deglaze. Let it evaporate, then add some more. Repeat this step as often as you like. Pour in about half a glass of beef stock and the tomatoes. Add the bay leaf.
Let everything simmer on low heat without lid for at least 3 hours. The longer you cook it, the better it will get. Season to your taste with salt, pepper and little bit of nutmeg.
Add some more stock (or later noodle water) if too much of the liquid evaporates.

3) When the sauce has simmered a while, mix 350g flour, 1 tbs salt, 1 tbsp oil, 4 eggs and knead it into a smooth dough. If necessary add some more flour or water.
Cover it and let it rest for 20 minutes.
Divide into 2 portions. Roll them out thinly on a floured sheet of baking paper. Sprinkle on some more flour, then let them dry a bit.

4) When the sauce is almost done, prepare your Tagliatelle.
Roll up the sheets of pasta dough and cut into ribbons with a very sharp knife. Unroll the pasta again and cook al dente in plenty of salted water, depending on thickness and width.
Try the pasta from time to time until it's ready

5) Remove the cooked out herbs and Bay leaf. Chop oregano, some more thyme and basil and put it into the sauce and mix it in.
When the pasta is finished, put it into a bowl, mix it directly with some of the sauce, then dress it onto a soup plate. Add some more sauce, then finish with shaved Parmigiano and some roughly chopped basil.

Enjoy ^_^