In case I haven't pronounced my ♥ for Filomena in DC, let me tell ya - its the best Italian I have ever had - this includes Rome, people. ITALY.
When you walk into the restaurant the Pasta Mamas are making their legit pasta... love, love, love.
My love for Italian food really drove me to add "Make homemade pasta" to my 30 Before 30 list - and thus far, I think it was my favorite task I have done. (Building a fort is definitely a close second... maybe we need to make homemade pasta and build a fort... oh, the possibilities)
Anywhoooo... Last Friday morning I grocery shopped to get ready for our pasta night. I found the recipe in a Gourmet Pasta Magazine that I picked up in the airport. I am so thankful I randomly picked it up - it was perfect, a beat down, but perfect!
So I will share the Sunday Ragu recipe with yall & show you my fab photos as we go along
Lets get to business - I wont lie, I spent 9 hours in my kitchen... worth it, but it this was not a short thing we have going on here... :)
If you aren't interested in the recipe (ITS LOOOOONG) at least scroll down to see my final product, its worth it. I promise.
Sunday Ragu
For the Tomato Sauce:
5 (28oz) cans whole tomatoes in juice
1/2 cup olive oil
1 large onion (finely chopped)
5 garlic cloves (minced)
1 bay leaf
For Beef Braciole:
4 garlic cloves (minced)
1/2 cup finely chopped flat leaf parsley
1 cup grated Pecorino Romano
3oz thinly sliced pancetta (finely chopped)
1 1/2 lb beef top round, cut across grain into
1/4-inch slices
Polpette:
2 cups coarse fresh bread crumbs
1/2 cup whole milk
3/4lb ground beef chuck
3/4lb ground veal
3/4lb ground pork
3 cloves (minced)
1 3/4 cups grated Pecorino Romano
2 large eggs (lightly beaten)
1/2 cup finely chopped flat leaf parsley
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
For Meatballs & other Meats:
Reserved meats from polpette recipe (and reserved
oil)
1/2 cup olive oil for frying, divided
1lb sweet Italian sausage links
1lb hot Italian sausage links
1 1/2lb boneless pork should, cut into 2inch pieces
2lb country style pork ribs
Holy crap, you get all that?!
The hubs got home from work, and jumped right into the kitchen to help a sista out - he was a wonderful sous chef
Here we go....
Make Polpettes:
- Stir together bread crumbs and milk in a large bowl and let stand 10 minutes. Add meats, garlic, cheese, eggs, parsley. 1 1/4 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper to bread crumb mixture and blend with your hands until combined (do not overmix). Form 1 1/2 cups meat mixture into small torpedo shaped meatballs (1 level tbsp. each)
- reserve remaining 4 cups meat mixture for ragu
Make the Tomato Sauce:
- Pulse tomatoes with juice (1 can at a time) in a
blender until almost smooth
- Heat oil in a wide 10-12 quart pot over medium/high heat until it shimmers, then sauté onion until golden, about 6 minutes. Add garlic and sauté 1 minute.
- Add tomato puree, bay leaf, and 1/2tsp salt and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until mixture is thickened, 40-45 minutes.
- Discard bay leaf
Make Braciole:
- Make while sauce simmers
- Stir together garlic, parsley, pecorino romano, and pancetta.
- Pound top round to 1/8 inch thick between 2 sheets of plastic wrap with a meat pounder
- Spoon the parsley mixture evenly over beef cutlets
- Starting with the short side, roll up cutlets and tie each end with string to make braciole (I used toothpicks)
Make Meatballs & Cook Meats:
- Form reserved meat mixture into balls (about 16; using a 1/4 cup measure)
- Heat 2 tbsp. oil in a 12 inch heavy skillet over medium heat until it shimmers. Season Braciole with 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper and brown well in 2 batches. About 6 minutes per batch. Transfer to a shallow pan
- Add 2 tbsp. oil to skillet and brown sausage in 2 batches. About 6 minutes per batch. Transfer to pan with braciole.
- Pat pork shoulder dry and season with 1/4 tsp each of salt and pepper. Add 2 tbsp of oil to skillet and brown pork shoulder all over. About 5 minutes. Transfer to pan.
- Pat pork ribs dry and season with 1/2 tsp season and 1/4 tsp pepper. Add remaining 2 tbsp. of oil to skillet and brown ribs well in two batches. About 6 minutes per batch. Transfer to pan.
- Heat reserved oil from polpette in skillet over medium heat until shimmers. Fry meatballs in 2 batches turning ocassionally, until well browned. About 6 minutes per batch. Tranfser to paper towels for slotted spoon.
Finish Ragu:
- Return sauce to a simmer and carefully add all meats and juices. Simmer partially covered, gently stirring occasionally. Until all meats are tender, about 2 1/4 hours.
So now you have a sauce... lets move on to your pasta, shall we???
We made fettuccine but next time I think that we will try some soft of ravioli
Fettuccine
Unbleached all-purpose flour
Semolina (a type of flour)
Large Eggs (5)
- Whisk together flour and semolina, then mound on a large work surface. Make a well in center and add eggs and 1/2 tsp salt to well.
- Gradually stir enough flour into eggs to form a paste, pulling in flour closest to egg mixture and being careful not to make an opening in wall of well.
As you can see... I broke the wall - and they still turned out, so don't be discouraged :)
- Knead remaining flour into mixture with your hands to form a dough.
- Knead dough until smooth and elastic, 8-10 minutes.
- Cover dough with an inverted bowl and let dough rest for 1 hour.
- Divide dough into 8 pieces, then flatten each piece into a rough rectangle; cover rectangles with bowl. Set rollers of pasta machine on widest setting.
- Lightly dust 1 rectangle with flour and feed through rollers. Fold rectangle in thirds and feed it, short end first, through rollers 7/8 more times, folding it in thirds each time.
- turn dial to next setting and feed dough through rollers without folding. continue to feed dough through rollers once at each setting, until you reach the second to narrowest setting. Dough will be a smooth sheet. Cut sheet in half crosswise.
- Lay sheets of dough on lightly floured baking sheets to dry until leathery but still pliable, about 15 minutes.
- Roll out remaining pieces of dough in same manner.
- Attach fettuccine blades to pasta machine. Feed one end of driest pasta sheet into cutters, holding other end straight up, then catch strips from underneath machine before sheet goes completely through rollers and gently lay across floured baking sheets. Repeat with remaining sheets of pasta.
- Let pasta dry for at least 5 minutes before cooking.
I wont lie - this took serious teamwork :)
- Cook fettuccine in a 6-8 quart pot in well salted boiling water until tender, about 2 minutes. Drain.
That last step seems like a duh moment, right? Well, its bolded and underlined for good reason. I let my sous chef drain our noods....
Sooooo 9 hours later (& thankfully a bottle of wine later too) the below was my meal.... I think my husband owes me some homemade noods... what do you think?
I can assure you though, the meatball was worth the 9 hours...
Bon Appetite!
