Ziti con Sugo all' Genovese
Sugo all' Genovese is one of Italy's great meat ragus for pasta, loved by Neapolitans and inhabitants of the Amalfi Coast and Salerno. Though famous in the region of Naples, though Americans and Italian-Americans in particular know and love many of the great dishes of Italy, very few people in America know of this dish, even Italian-Americans. This is a shame, as it is quite wonderful, and a dish everyone who taste it, just loves the dish.
This ragu is rich and tasty, and many would be surprise how many onions go into the ragu, as well as the fact that there is only a very small amount of tomato product that goes into the ragu which contains, as we've said, a lot of onions, beef (Chuck is Best), small amounts of celery, carrots, red wine, and a bit of tomato paste. Everything is slow cooked for about 2 & 1/2 hours until the beef is succulent and tender, and the onions have practically disappeared and all the ingredients have combined to make a most tasty ragu to dress your Maccheroni with (Ziti is preferred).
Sugo Genovese is one of those Italian dishes that you might categorize as a two-for dish, in that when you make it, you will get two courses to eat from the one pot. Cook some Ziti, or any short maccheroni pasta you like, and dress it with a bit of the Ragu. Then you can serve some larger pieces of the Braised Beef for a main course, and accompanied with some polenta or boiled potatoes. This is classic Cucina Povera, and a means to stretch a small amount of meat as much as possible, getting a number of portions from just one or two pounds of meat.
