Neapolitan ragu is a great alternative to the heavier and more complicated ragu bolognese. It’s all about tomatoes and pork. A bit of veal and some white wine. Maybe an onion. Simple.

No garlic, no basil, no oregano. No secret ingredients. Just tomato and meat flavour. Clean. Pure. Delicious. Try it. You’ll be surprised how good easy tastes.

It goes pretty much like any other ragu. Brown the meat with some onion, add some wine. Reduce. Add tomatoes and simmer. For hours.

This is slow food. You can’t make it fast food. Make sure you have time when you start this. Or make it the day before. It reheats fine.

This isn’t in your face rage. Neapolitan ragu flavours are lighter. There’s plenty of flavour. The sausage sees to that. But it isn’t heavy. No beef. No beefy taste.

Neapolitan ragu needs good quality ingredients

There’s nowhere to hide in this recipe. The simplicity means every ingredient has to pull its weight. So buy good quality pork. The best Italian sausage you can get.

Go see your butcher. They will fix you up. This isn’t a place to use up those Johnsonville brats you have in the back of the freezer.

Make sure you use good quality canned tomatoes. Tomatoes are the star ingredient. Don’t skimp. San Marzano tomatoes are a good choice if you can get them.

Prepping your tomatoes is a nice touch. Buy whole tomatoes and pass them through a food mill. If you don’t have a food mill you can substitute passata. Won’t be quite the same though.

If you are going to use passata definitely try to get the best you can. Lousy passata makes lousy sauce. Did I mention there is nowhere to hide? No heavy handed seasoning here.

Good quality pasta counts as well. Neapolitan ragu is a labour of love. Might be an idea to try some of those expensive pastas you see in Italian delis. A nice broad noodle like tagliatelle or pappardelle works well.

Toss Neapolitan ragu with pasta and sprinkle some freshly grated parmeggiano reggiano on top. Maybe a bit of fresh torn basil and a bit of black pepper. Just pure comfort food.

If you have some left over try making Neapolitan lasagna. That’s some crazy good stuff too.

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4.85 from 13 votes

neapolitan ragu

This sauce is about tomatoes and sausage meat. Make sure you get the best you can.

Course Main

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 3

Total Time 3 20

Servings

Calories 247kcal

Author romain | glebekitchen

Ingredients

3 Tbsp olive oil
10 oz ground pork
10 oz ground veal
10 oz mild Italian sausage - removed from casing and crumbled
1 large onion - finely diced
3/4 cup white wine
2 28 ounce cans whole tomatoes - I really like genuine San Marzano tomatoes here
1 tsp salt - more to taste

Instructions

Heat olive oil in a pot large enough to hold all the ingredients.
Add the onion, veal, pork and sausage and cook, uncovered, until all the liquid from the meat has evaporated. This takes about 10-15 minutes. You are evaporating liquid. You will be left with a bit of fat in the pan. That's OK. You can't boil off fat. At least I can't...
Add the white wine and boil until almost dry, about 5 minutes.
Pass the tomatoes along with their juices through a food mill to remove seeds and membranes.
Add the pureed tomatoes and the salt.
Cover loosely and simmer 2 to 2 1/2 hours.
Adjust salt to taste.

Notes

Pass the tomatoes through a food mill if you have one.
If using passata substitute 2 25 oz bottles for the two cans of tomatoes.

Nutrition