Turkey Ragù with Penne

I recently learnt Ragu is not a tomato sauce. Rather, its a sauce made with ground meats and flavored with tomato paste or a little tomato sauce. Ragu is rich and meaty, should be cooked gently without high heat.

Ragù ideally should be served with fresh long pasta, preferably egg pasta. I didn’t have long egg pasta so I served it with penne, which actually worked out well because the sauce hides in the hollow insides giving a delicious tightly woven mouthfeel. I made the sauce with ground turkey for a lighter meat and enhanced the flavors with fennel, olive oil and a good dry red wine to give the sauce the rich flavor you would get from red meats. and it worked really well.

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RAGU WITH PENNE SERVES 6

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 12-14 oz penne or any pasta of your choice
• 1 small onion minced
• 1 medium carrots minced
• 4-5 cloves garlic (minced)
• ½ small fennel bulb minced, normally celery is added but I had fennel
• 16 oz organic ground lean turkey
• ¼ cup tomato paste
• ½ teaspoon dried wild oregano 
• 1 cup chicken broth
• ½ cup Dry red wine, I like a good Cabernet here
• 1/4 grated parmesan or grana cheese
• Salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Warm the butter and olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot and fennel and cook for 5-7 minutes or until soft and translucent.
2. Add the ground minced meat, garlic and cook, breaking up the meat with your spoon till it crumbles. Drain some of the fat leaving some to cook the meat. Because turkey was lean I didn’t do this.
3. Add the wine and increase the heat until the wine has evaporated about 6 minutes.
4. Reduce the heat and add the tomato paste, oregano, salt and pepper. Cook further for 10 minutes Stirring frequently. Add the stock and bring it to a gentle simmer. Cook for 30 minutes till the sauce has reduced slightly and has thickened, but not dry, it should be thick and moist.
5. Meanwhile bring a large pot of Salted water to a boil and cook the pasta according to the package. Save 1/4 cup of the cooking water.
6. Transfer the pasta to the sauce pot. Mix very well, adding a little pasta water if needed. The sauce should stick to the pasta and look shiny. SERVE with grated cheese and torn basil leaves.

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