Tuscan Trinity- Soffritto

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.