The Real Ragu' Recipe

No, I'm joking, there's no real ragu' recipe. I guess every family in Italy has one, they're all different and usually delicious. This is mine, my family originates from a region called Emilia Romagna, the one where Bologna is, a distinguishing feature of this region's cooking is a massive quantity of pork meat, fresh or cured. My gramma used to put minced raw ham in it, and in Bologna I know that many adds, well, Bologna :D (or, 'mortadella', that's the correct definition).
My recipe is slightly lighter, 'cause I didn't put any cured meat or cream in the sauce as many does- not that is LIGHT anyway, so don't overdo with your ragu', keep it for the great occasions :P

Quantities are relative, this time I used around 300 grams of ground beef and 200 grams of plain sausage, no chili or fennel seeds added - those are the most common kinds of spiced sausages in Italy.
Oh, here's a converter: http://www.metric-conversions.org/w.....-to-pounds.htm :D

Peperoncino, or chili pepper, is a characteristic of southern cuisine mostly, while on the north is more common pepper, black or white. But we're talking about traditional cuisine, because traditions are now vastly mixed in the country, due to the internal migrations.

In a pot, pour some olive oil (extra virgin if you can find it!), and fry some minced onion, carrot and celery. This is called 'soffritto', and here, you can find it ready and frozen.
When the onion gets trasparent, put the ground beef and the sausage, minced, in the pot, and fry for a bit, until it starts to colour a bit. To avoid the meat to burn, pour some white wine (you can use cheap wine, as long as isn't poisonous :P). Add spices, I use rosemary, coriander, pepper and laurel and let it roast a bit.

Add a good tomato sauce, one can for this quantity of meat, and water, a couple of cans, cover the pot, lower the fire to the minimum and let it go veeery slowly, for a couple of hours. Time is fundamental to get a very good ragu' sauce. Stir frequently, adding water when it gets too thick. In the cooking time, you can also add an half glass of milk, amongst the water, it makes the sauce creamier. I had no milk so I didn't, but I love it even milkless :9

And is ready for your pasta or lasagne! In some regions on the North, ragu' is also used to dress polenta, together with strong cheese, like fontina, or toma:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fontina
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toma_Piemontese
Is very good, but I'd recommend when it's definitely VERY COLD outside :P