Spaghetti alla Chitarra with 4 meat ragu Abruzzese
This rich tasty meat lovers ragu is just the right dish for a special occasion or hearty meal!
- Prep time
- 30 min
- Cook time
- 2 hr
- Yield
- 4 servings
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 100 g lamb shoulder
- 100 g veal rump (sirloin or hind shank (without bones))
- 100 g beef rump
- 4 thick slices of pancetta
- extra virgin olive oil
- 1 large onion (peeled and finely chopped)
- 2 carrots (finely chopped)
- 2 celery stalks (finally chopped)
- 2 cloves
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1 dried peperoncino or 2 teaspoons of peperoncino flakes ((optional))
- 1-2 cups chicken stock
- ½ glass red wine
- 1-2 690g bottles of tomato passata (I use rustica which is thicker)
- salt (for pasta and to taste)
- black pepper (to taste)
- 360 g spaghetti alla chitarra (or normal spaghetti, bucatini, tagliatelle etc)
- Grated pecorino cheese.
Instructions
- 1
Finely chop the onion, carrots and celery and cook them in extra virgin olive oil until they become translucent. Then remove them from the pan and set aside.
- 2
Cut all the meat into small cubes and the pancetta into small strips (see photo)
- 3
Fry the pancetta until the fat starts to brown but don’t let it get too crispy. Remove from the pan and put it with the vegetables
- 4
Brown the beef, lamb and veal one type at a time separately in the same pan as you cooked the pancetta , adding a little oil if necessary. Remove each type of meat once it is browned and add it to the pancetta and vegetables.
- 5
When all the meat has been browned return it all with the vegetables to the frying pan.
- 6
Add the cloves, nutmeg and peperoncino and cook for 2 minutes
- 7
Add the red wine and cook until the wine has reduced.
- 8
Add half a cup of stock and cook for a further 2 minutes
- 9
Add one bottle of passata and mix everything well together
- 10
Add salt and pepper to taste and allow to simmer partly covered for at least 1-1.5 hours stirring occasionally. Don’t allow the sauce to stick.
- 11
As the sauce starts to reduce and thicken add a ladle of stock and/or more passata. ( I alternated stock and passata) Continue doing this until the meat is tender and the sauce has a semi-liquid consistency.
- 12
Add more peperoncino if required and once the meat is tender add ½ cup of grated pecorino and cook for a further 5 minutes.
- 13
Cook the pasta in boiling salted water according to the instructions on the packet. Fresh or homemade pasta will cook very quickly (around 3-4 mins)
- 14
Serve the pasta covered in sauce and extra grated pecorino as required