Veal Ragu (Ragout)

I bought some fun shaped pasta a few weeks ago, and wanted to do something different. Not tomato based or end up with creamy mushroom/chicken sauce, you know been there done that. After watching an episode of jamie olivers show, jamie at home, te recipe of game ragu inspired me to do something similar. My first change was the meat, mixing up different kind of animals, by that I mean species, kinda freaks me out so I decided not to go there. I wanted to keep the ragu rather light coloured and clean so beef was out of the question, and enough with the chicken already! If I'd been able to get my hands on rabbit I would have probably used that, but eventually went with veal instead.
Although the ragu is light in colour it is somewhat rich,  but since you only use it to coat the pasta instead of drowning it with sauce it has just the right amount of heft. It made me think of spring especially with the lemon zest added before serving. I was very happy with the results and thought it was a nice change from the usual grub.

The herb I used was sage which worked very well for this but you can certainly pick another herb like rosemary, thyme or a combination.

Veal Ragu (ragout)
Inspired by Jamie Oliver
serves about 6
1 kilo (2lb) veal
1 medium leek
1 medium onion
1 medium celery stalk
1 big carrot
bunch of flat leaf parsley (about 20 stalks)
4 garlic cloves
2-3 tbsp chopped fresh sage (small handfull of leaves)
2 bay leaves
60 ml (1/4 cup/ 4 tbsp) olive oil
250 ml (1 cup) chicken broth
250 ml warm water
1 heaped tbsp of flour
salt and pepper to taste
500 grams of wide pasta, like reginette, pappardelle, or rigatoni etc

to finish the dish:
30 gr (1 oz/2 tbsp) butter
60 gr (2 oz) grated parmesian cheese
zest of half a lemon (pref. unwaxed)
chopped parsley

Prepare your vegetables:
Peel and chop the onion, not to fine and set aside seperately.
Clean and peel the rest: carrot, leek, celery (like I mentioned here), and garlic cloves. Finely mince the garlic and dice everything else in about 1cm by 1cm pieces, also finely chop the parsley and sage.



In a large pot or dutch oven heat 2 tbsp of olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and let cook for about 10-15 minutes until caramelized, lower the heat if necessary and stir frequently, you want them to be sweet soft and lighlty browned.
If the onions are done add the rest of the olive oil, the diced vegetables, herbs and a pinch of salt. Stir now and then and let this cook over medium heat until the vegetables are softened, 10 minutes or so. In the meantime cut the meat into small pieces (approx. same size as vegetables).



When vegetables are cooked add the meat pinch of pepper and the flour, make sure everything is coated and cook this for about 5-7 minutes whilst stirring before adding the water and chicken stock. Let come to a boil, and reduce heat to low and cook this covered for about 45 minutes.



Check the meat, it should be very tender by now, discard the bay leaves and increase heat to medium and let simmer uncovered until the desired consistency. Take of the heat and add the butter, parmesian cheese and lemon zest* stir until everything is melted and combined, taste and adjust seasoning.
In the meantime cook pasta in salted water until al dente. Make sure you have everything to finish the dish ready. Before draining the pasta remove about 250 ml (1 cup) of pasta water. Put the pasta back into the pot and add ragu and some of the pasta water (start with 60 ml/ 1/4 cup) toss gently to combine and add more pasta water if it needs it. The pasta should be loose and glossy. Sprinkle some parsley and grated parmesian cheese over the top and serve immediately.



*before I added the cheese, butter and zest I removed half the ragu to freeze for another time. When I want to serve it I'll finish it with the cheese etc.(of course only half the amount)