The Great Feast-Day Ragù, or Gran Ragù della Festa: A Sicilian festive ragù is -- often -- the reason for the festivities, according to Pino Correnti, author of Il Libro D'Oro della Cucina e Dei Vini di Sicilia. It's an occasion to gather friends and relatives around the table and enjoy maccarruni that are hand made, for both noble and townsman, with the difference that the former will enjoy the three elements of the more opulent tradition: farsumagru, purpetti, and sasizza fritta. For 6-8:
Prep Time: 60 minutes
Cook Time: 2 hours
Ingredients:
- At least 2.2 pounds (1 k) farsumagru (see link below)
- 12 meatballs made with ground beef or veal (see link below)
- 12 chunks of pan-fried sausage (see link below)
- An onion
- 3/4 pound (300 g) blanched, peeled, seeded and chopped tomatoes, drained (use canned if need be)
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1/2 cup well aged dry red wine (Nero d'Avola would be perfect)
- A nice piece of bone with marrow
- A medium bunch of parsley
- A leafy frond of basil
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 3 bay leaves
- 8 ounces (200 g) freshly shelled peas
- 1/2 tablespoon lard
- 1 pound (400 g) potatoes
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- Salt & Pepper to taste
Preparation:
Peel and cube the potatoes. Sauté them in the lard, together with the bone, and set them aside.
Slice the onion thinly and mince the parsley. Heat the oil in a large pot and sauté the onion and parsley until the onion is golden (don't let it burn), then add the tomatoes, bay leaves, basil, and the tomato paste, diluted with the wine. Cook for about 15 minutes, at which point the ragù will begin to take on life; put the farsumagru in the middle of the pot and arrange the meatballs and chunks of sausage around it, together with the chunk of bone.
Season with salt and pepper, and add just enough boiling water to cover all; you should now cover everything and simmer it gently. After an hour add the potatoes and the peas, dust with the sugar, and after another hour's simmering taste a potato: It will act as litmus paper, revealing whatever problems the ragù may have and thus allowing us to correct them.
When it's done, begin by removing the potatoes from the pot, being careful not to crumble them, and use them to ring the serving dish. Dispose of the bone, then lay down a ring of meatballs, and next a ring of sausage. Remove the string from the farsumagru, and lay it in the middle. Slice the farsumagru at table, spooning some of the sauce over the slices. Use the remaining sauce to season maccaruni or rigatoni.
The wine? Red, and the obvious choice would be a Nero D'Avola.
Slice the onion thinly and mince the parsley. Heat the oil in a large pot and sauté the onion and parsley until the onion is golden (don't let it burn), then add the tomatoes, bay leaves, basil, and the tomato paste, diluted with the wine. Cook for about 15 minutes, at which point the ragù will begin to take on life; put the farsumagru in the middle of the pot and arrange the meatballs and chunks of sausage around it, together with the chunk of bone.
Season with salt and pepper, and add just enough boiling water to cover all; you should now cover everything and simmer it gently. After an hour add the potatoes and the peas, dust with the sugar, and after another hour's simmering taste a potato: It will act as litmus paper, revealing whatever problems the ragù may have and thus allowing us to correct them.
When it's done, begin by removing the potatoes from the pot, being careful not to crumble them, and use them to ring the serving dish. Dispose of the bone, then lay down a ring of meatballs, and next a ring of sausage. Remove the string from the farsumagru, and lay it in the middle. Slice the farsumagru at table, spooning some of the sauce over the slices. Use the remaining sauce to season maccaruni or rigatoni.
The wine? Red, and the obvious choice would be a Nero D'Avola.
