At the table with good friends and family you do not become old. ~ Italian Proverb
How many of my fondest memories arise from sitting at the table with family or friends laughing about something or solving all the world’s problems. Dinner was a time for catching up on the happenings of the day, a time to talk, a time to plan, and a time to discuss life in its minutiae or magnitude.
When my kids left home, one of the things I missed the most was having dinner with them. Dinner meant laughter most nights at our house. To have funny kids is a great blessing, and we had them in spades. We never had dinner in front of the TV. Dinner was a time to focus only on this little core of people and what affected each of our lives.
To invite or be invited to a friend’s house for dinner is to participate in one of the most genuine acts of love that exists between people. Opening up your home is the same as wrapping your arms around someone. I hope that many more will return to this simplest of life’s pleasures and spend more time talking and eating at the table with family and friends.
Recipe Source: The Silver Spoon
Ingredients (Serves 4)
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp butter
1 onion, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 clove garlic, diced
1 lb. ground beef
2 tbsp tomato paste
½ cup dry white wine
1 cup tomato puree
½ cup of water (1 cup of water if you are not using the ½ cup of wine)
Salt and pepper
Instructions
Heat olive oil and butter in a pan and add the onion.
Cook over medium-low heat until onion is just starting to turn brown.
Add the celery and carrot and cover and cook, stirring occasionally until just starting to brown.
Stir in the garlic and cook for 1 minute.
Turn up the heat to medium and add ground beef and brown.
Stir in the tomato paste and cook an additional minute.
Stir in white wine and water, and season with salt and pepper.
Turn the heat to low and cover and cook for 1 ½ hours.
(Add water ½ cup at a time if the sauce seems to be drying out. Meat should be covered with sauce.)
Serve over tagliatelle.
Enjoy!
Ragú alla Bolognese
Ingredients
- Serves 4
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 onion diced
- 1 celery stalk diced
- 1 carrot diced
- 1 clove garlic diced
- 1 lb. ground beef
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- ½ cup dry white wine
- 1 cup tomato puree
- ½ cup of water 1 cup of water if you are not using the ½ cup of wine
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Heat olive oil and butter in a pan and add the onion.
- Cook over medium-low heat until onion is just starting to turn brown.
- Add the celery and carrot and cover and cook, stirring occasionally until just starting to brown.
- Stir in the garlic and cook for 1 minute.
- Turn up the heat to medium and add ground beef and brown.
- Stir in the tomato paste and cook an additional minute.
- Stir in white wine, tomato puree, water, and season with salt and pepper.
- Turn the heat to low and cover and cook for 1 ½ hours.
- (Add water ½ cup at a time if the sauce seems to be drying out. Meat should be covered with sauce.)
- Serve over tagliatelle.
I love food! I read cookbooks like they were novels. I get giddy in a farmer’s market. I find a chicken in a pot surrounded by carrots, onion, and celery a thing of beauty. My favorite sound is Mmmmmmmm!
Delicious recipe! The Italians really know how to eat (and drink!) I love that proverb.
Thank you! I agree 100% about the Italians! Great people, great food, and great drinks!
Your Bolognese looks wonderful and I love your plates – very pretty.
Thank you so much. The plates were a gift from my mother-in-law, and I was so happy to receive them!