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Tuscan Trinity- Soffritto

March 28, 2013 by Divina Cucina

When you work through my cookbook, Secrets of My Tuscan Kitchen,you find that the base of many of the sauces and stews consists in one of the Tuscan Trinity’s, the Soffritto.

Carrot, red onion and celery, some people add parsley too.

Each cook makes their own variations, personalizing the recipe.

Today I made a ragu, called Sugo.

I chopped the vegetables not too small,wanting a more rustic sauce.

I made my sauce with almost all wine, and call it Sugo di Vino.

Tomatoes only really came into use in the late 1600’s in Italy after the discovery of the New World.

At the local butcher, I get the meat ground to order. I use 2 parts of lean beef to one part pork sausage and have them ground together,twice.

After the vegetables are sauteed, I add the meat and let it brown.

A generous splash of red wine, only using wine I would also drink!

Salt to taste and I add some tomato paste.

We have an interesting spice blend that is like a 4 spice mixture,using ginger, cloves, nutmeg and allspice, which gives an interesting flavor to the ragu.

I leave it to slowly simmer away until the meat is really tender.

To serve, heat the sauce in a skillet and add a little of the pasta water,

Drain the pasta  when it is just a couple of minutes short of being al dente.

Toss in the pasta sauce and let finish cooking together. The pasta will absorb the sauce as it finishes cooking and make your food taste like an Italian mamma made it.

Serve with parmesan cheese—-

Keep it simple.

Sugo di Vino
1 large carrot
1 large red onion
1 celery stalk


9 ounces ground beef
2 pork sausages


1-2 cups red wine
2 Tbs tomato paste

Salt to taste
nutmeg or 4 spezie mixture

Mince the carrot, onion and celery together.
Saute in olive oil until lightly golden.

Add beef and the meat from the sausage, taking off the casings.

Brown the meat.

Add red wine,season with salt and nutmeg or spices.

Add the tomato paste and stir to blend. 
If you need more liquid you can add a little water or more wine.

Let cook until the meat is tender.

if you would like the classic tomato based ragu/sugo- here it is on my web site:
Sugo di carne
or without meat called Sugo Finto.

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Filed Under: All Recipes, First Course, Sauces Tagged With: pasta sauce, soffritto, sugo, tuscan ragu

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Comments

  1. Bethan says

    March 28, 2013 at 8:01 pm

    Looks amazing! Would it be ridiculous to add pancetta to this?

    http://audacityoffood.blogspot.co.uk/

  2. judy witts says

    March 28, 2013 at 8:03 pm

    in bologna for ragu,they add chopped pancetta.I have another recipe with chopped prosciutto- there are as many recipes as there are cooks!

  3. Marisa. Uncicloneincucina says

    March 28, 2013 at 8:05 pm

    I love ragu!!! Yours sounds delicious!!
    Mari

  4. Barbara F. says

    March 28, 2013 at 11:41 pm

    This sounds delicious, I am going to make this. I am been craving a good “dirty gravy”, what we called a pasta sauce made with ground beef. Buona Pasqua, Judy! xo

  5. AdriBarr says

    March 29, 2013 at 12:25 am

    YUM. Sounds wonderful to me, and looking at it makes me hungry! By the way, it just seems that everything is so nice in Italy – even your butcher paper is cool!

  6. La Contessa says

    March 29, 2013 at 2:21 am

    MILLIE GRAZIE!Will try a presto!

  7. Suresh Urs says

    March 29, 2013 at 5:11 am

    Nice recipe it is made with wine. Great one. Superb recipe.

  8. laura freeman says

    March 29, 2013 at 6:31 am

    Great post! Catch you on the other side of the pond! Ciao for now.

  9. Anonymous says

    March 29, 2013 at 5:37 pm

    I’m on my way to the market right now… you have inspired me Judy. We’ll raise a glass to you tonight.

  10. Frank Fariello says

    April 5, 2013 at 4:11 pm

    Looks wonderful! What a privilege to have a butcher who will grind to order…

Judy Witts Francini

Originally from California; Tuscany has been my home since 1984. I found the city of Florence to hold all my passions, food, wine, art all in one place. When I am not in Tuscany, I am often found in Sicily, my other favorite place to be. Always searching for recipes to share and exploring for the guides I write to my favorite cities for food and wine.

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