Pasta with Ragu

Our summer trip to Italy included an afternoon Italian cooking lesson. The group learned to make tagliatelle pasta and a traditional ragu sauce.

Both were amazingly simple to prepare and tasted fantastic. The fresh pasta brought back memories of dinner at Grandma Dornacher's. She would spend the day cooking an amazing Italian feast and grin from ear to ear as we devoured her creations.

Ragu

• Onion, finely chopped
  
• Celery, finely chopped
  
• Carrot, finely chopped
  
• 6-10 ounces of meat per person
  
• Red wine, optional
  
• Tomato sauce
  
• Extra virgin olive oil
  
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Saute the onion, celery and carrot.

2. Add the meat and cook.

3. Add the tomato sauce, salt and pepper. Cook until the sauce is reduced to your desired consistency.

Pasta

• 1 Egg per person
  
• Flour

1. Mound the flour on a wood table, making a hollow in the center. Break the eggs(s), one at a time. Mix the eggs into the flour with a fork. Add more flour if required.

2. Once all the eggs have been incorporated into the flour, begin to knead with your hands. Add more flour if required.

3. Roll the pasta dough slice to the desired thickness (tagliatelle, ravioli, etc.). Allow to dry.

4. Place dried pasta and a pinch of salt into boiling water. Cook to taste. Strain and add the ragu and Parmesan cheese.

p.s. Like many family recipes, the amount of ingredients is by trial and error.