A Tagliatelle Tradition
For our final recipe of the semester, each student made a dish to be served to someone. The Thanksgiving holidays influenced us to consider what foods we are thankful for, and why; fitting, as this holiday is arguably the biggest celebration around food.
Food often connects to one’s lineage, identity, and memory. Certain dishes can become symbols or representations of a person’s life; therefore, sharing food has countless social implications and effects. Also, no matter how culturally or otherwise significant a dish is, serving food is a personal gesture as someone offers the fruits of their labor. Sharing and serving meals communes people. A person’s embrace of a meal or cuisine served to them can bring a sense of togetherness, and strengthen human relationships.
This Thanksgiving, my close friend Jillette spent the holiday with me and my family for the first time. So, while not a traditional Thanksgiving dish, I took the opportunity to share with her a family recipe of Tagliatelle bolognese.
We’ve talked about cuisines that are significant to us in the past, such as what foods come to mind when we think of home. I’ve wanted to share Italian dishes with her since freshman year when we were both homesick and hungry and sharing what meals we missed most. I told her about my mother’s (and her mother’s, and hers) authentic sauce recipes.
As I cooked this dish, I thought of the time I stayed at her house for the first time years ago, and her mother made Sinangag, a Filipino breakfast dish of garlic fried rice (I have been thinking about it ever since). I truly appreciated not only being welcomed into their home but, in a sense, immersed in it. I hoped Jillette would feel the same embrace with this family recipe.
To sum up it in other words, when I think of the importance of serving food, I remember a viral comment left under a pasta recipe on the New York Times site: “I added a carrot to the squash for more color and I wish I had a family to which I could serve this.”
I recall the time I video-chatted my cousin as she made her first “big girl” meal (steak tacos) in her first apartment, and she said, “These came out amazing, I wish you were here.”
And now, I’ll think of my best friend Jill taking her second bite and asking me, with a mouthful of Tagliatelle, “Can you teach me how to make this?”
This hearty bolognese sauce is a perfect balance of savory proteins with sweet tomatoes and has a great mix of texture between the soft pasta, crumbled meat, and subtle crunch of carrots, celery, and white onion. It is very filling, so this recipe will last a few meals — luckily, because you’ll certainly want it again after the first bite.
Ingredients:
— Six small carrots
— Three stalks of celery
— One small white onion
“The Holy Trinity of Italian cooking,” as my mother says.
— 3–4 tablespoons of olive oil
— 2-lbs. Of Dececco Tagliatelle pasta
— 1-lb. of ground beef
— 1-lb of sweet Italian ground sausage
— Tuttorosso 6-ounce tomato paste
— Tuttorosso 16-ounce crushed tomatoes
Cooking Ware:
— Large, deep frying pan
— Medium-sized pot
— Colander
Steps:
1. Dice carrots, celery, and onion and place in the frying pan.
2. Sauté vegetables with 3–4 tablespoons of olive oil.
3. Add 6-oz. can of Tuttorosso tomato paste.
4. Add 1-lb. sweet Italian ground sausage and 1-lb.ground beef to frying pan and mix.
5. Once browned, add 16 ounces of the Tuttorosso crushed tomatoes, 4 ounces of water, and mix.
6. Boil pasta in a medium-sized pot for 8–10 minutes. Tagliatelle is the traditional pasta shape for bolognese sauce, but it can be substituted for fettuccine.
7. Save 1/4 cup of pasta water before staining to help mix the sauce.
8. Mix with the bolognese sauce while the pasta is hot.
9. Serve hot in a bowl, and enjoy!
