Tagliatelle al ragù is one of the most popular dishes at Rossoblu, Steve Samson’s restaurant in Downtown LA. The chef’s mom is from Bologna, and the restaurant’s menu is a tribute to the Italian city where he spent his summers growing up and cooking with his family.
In his Live Instagram event with La Cucina Italiana Editor in Chief Maddalena Fossati, he shared valuable advice on the classic dish known in America as “pasta Bolognese”, but, as Maddalena pointed out, in Italy it’s actually simply called “pasta al ragù.”
Tagliatelle al Ragù by Rossoblu
Another important distinction is the amount of tomato sauce used in America. “I don’t use much of it,” explained Chef Samson, “it should just complement the pasta. At the restaurant, we use just two cans of tomato sauce for 100 pounds of ground meat. It has an almost brownish-red rust color, it is meat sauce, and shouldn’t look like a tomato sauce.”
At Rossoblu, the tagliatelle and all fresh pastas are homemade daily by Master Artisan Pasta Maker Francesco Allegro using a rolling pin “just like my nonna Olimpia did every morning,” said Sansom, “but he goes faster than her!”
Francesco Allegro
It is hard to access fresh pasta these days, but a regular box of dried tagliatelle will still give you a great result. Just follow chef Samson’s tips:
He uses a soffritto of diced carrots, onions and celery as a base that he seasons with salt (he seasons the sauce at every step, layering the flavors).
He then adds some tomato paste, and the ground meat, a mix of pork and beef (pork, beef, and veal works as well). “I like coarse grinding meat. You can ask “chili grinding” meat to your butcher”. He seasons it and adds wine, more tomato, some beef or chicken stock or water.
He lets the sauce simmer on a low flame for 3 hours to develop flavor.
At the restaurants, they add ends of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and grinded mortadella and prosciutto ends as well. Chef Samson noted that some use milk in the sauce, like his nonna, but he doesn’t.
For herbs, he only uses bay leaves, and he finishes the sauce with nutmeg.
While dry semolina pasta is normally cooked al dente, he recommends to cook egg pasta like tagliatelle thoroughly in salted water before tossing it in the pan with the sauce.
Finally, Chef Samson likes to add grated Parmigiano Reggiano before eating the mouthwatering dish.
Other favorites at Rossoblu are all authentic Bolognese recipes, like a lightly fried eggplant, marinated in olive, dressed with a reduced tomato sauce, grated Parmigiano Reggiano and basil. “We call it Valbruna’s eggplant”, said Samson, “it’s a recipe from my best friend’s mom in Bologna”. Another hit is minestra nel sacco, dumplings made with a dough for Parmigiano, flour, and egg, cut in cubes and cooked in brodo (a beef and chicken broth).
Minestra nel Sacco by Rossoblu
Rossoblu is currently offering pasta packages and curbside takeout. You can also support Rossoblu’s relief program, which provides meal and grocery kits to frontline healthcare workers, hospice families and restaurant employees here.