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Quick voice note on the collaboration of this recipe, Il Ragù di Tiziana.
First of the summer
The first swim of the season is one of those moments you mark in your memory bank for the year. It’s the start to all things sweet, bright, light, and colorful. A gelato after dinner, a sweet melon with prosciutto, a chilled pasta salad between swims at the beach. Our vitamin D deficient bodies took to the sand like pieces of fresh paper. Ready to jump into the blue sea, soak up the warm sun, and finally collapse into an afternoon nap. Like a water colored painting, the colors bleed into one another, tinting the paper with shades of soft blues and oranges, greens, and yellows. I drift in and out of my pastel colored dreams and wake up to Gianluca standing on the edge of where the water laps along the sand. First swim of the summer, he says. First swim of the summer, I reply.
I’m currently sitting on the balcony at Gianluca’s family home. The Roman parrots wiz by, taking refuge in the umbrella pine trees that stand tall between the buildings. In the apartment above and just diagonal from where I sit, an old woman hangs her clothing to dry. It seems as though she’s not hanging but merely touching the clothes, controlling the neighborhood. Controlling my presence. Who is this girl sitting outside typing on that machine, I hear her thoughts play out in her mind. Besides for the clothing that hangs from the line, a clean empty bag of Mulino Bianco Biscotti hangs along the iron railings, the light reflecting off the aluminum liner. Maybe a way to keep the Roman parrots at bay? I have to believe she has a great cause for this, so judgement never enters my mind. She’s probably seen so much change in this community of apartment buildings.
Gianluca tells me that, when his grandmother purchased this apartment, many years ago, the area was farmland. A countryside village of sheep grazing in the surrounding fields. It’s almost hard to imagine considering the lack of grassy areas, even for a small dog. But Rome is like this in many ways. Take for instance the Appia Antica road. Just off the main streets of Rome, the old Appia Antica cuts through the valley and was considered Europe’s first “highway” - connecting Rome to the south near Naples. The road still exists, cobbled and surrounded by trees, fields, vineyards. Sheep most certainly graze here, running along the Appia Antica road amongst modern day bikes and tourists. Some traditions are never lost, still traveling like missionaries through time and into the future along these ancient roads. And for these ancient traditions, I am grateful.
By the afternoon I’ve retreated to the kitchen. Looking for ingredients to help earn my keep and somehow manage to put a dinner on the table that everyone is pleased with. There’s a few peas from last week, a small piece of prosciutto, sweet onions, and some olives. I look in the pantry and find some flour. Maybe a savory galette? No, I decide on pasta. A simple 2:1 ratio of flour to water and I’ll make cavatelli. Simple and always preforms well. I think about making a type of pea pesto to accompany the hand rolled shape but just as I’m about to blend the peas, Gianluca’s mom enters the kitchen, home from work after a long day and with a wonderful idea. The freezer. We take to the treasured freezer chest and find a perfectly portioned homemade ragu - made by Tiziana herself. For those days when you just don’t want to cook, she says. And I couldn’t agree more.
Il Ragù di Tiziana
This recipe is one of those recipes that only exists within your family. It’s like the ever so prized list of words or phrases that you share with your family - familect. This recipe is Tizzy’s father’s - a Nonno Bosi ragù - and follows a very simple format which is that, this is how my father made it and liked it! And that’s good enough of a reason as any for me.
This ragù is delicious and loaded with flavor from the sausage. Tiziana has her butcher put the beef (an entire piece of beef that’s not already ground) and 2 sausages through the grinder together. She said she makes sure it’s a piece of beef and not already pre-ground…she keeps her eye on him and I believe it!
The recipe below makes a large batch of ragù but do as Tizzy does and freeze in portions for those nights that you’re not quite in the mood to pull out the pots and pans.
Serves 10
Ingredients
500g of beef (ground)
2 sausages
3 Tbsps of olive oil
1-2 cloves of garlic
700g of passata di pomodoro (tomato puree)
1 glass of white wine
1 cup of water (as needed throughout the cooking process)
Salt to taste
Method
If you can, have your butcher grind the beef and the sausages together. If not, remove the sausages from their casing and mix well with the ground beef. In a pot, heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil and add the cloves of garlic. Brown the beef and sausage mixture. Once browned, add the glass of white wine and allow the wine to cook off. The wine should evaporate after 2-3 minutes. To the pot, add the passata di pomodoro and a splash of water (3 tablespoons or so). Allow to simmer for 2 hours, gradually stirring and adding water as needed when the liquid evaporates. This is a slow cook so be patient. Serve with your preferred pasta
Until next time at a standing reservation…
With love & snacks,
Paige
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Need a happy moment?
Along the seaside south of Rome in Rio Claro we found ourselves in the seaside garden of a friends house admiring these beautiful lilies. She said the gardeners were coming the next day to clear up the grounds and the lilies would soon be cut back anyways. So away they came, all the way back to Rome with us.
Thoughts from a balcony in Portuense