Best La Genovese Recipes

RIGATONI ALLA GENOVESE

Rigatoni alla Genovese image

I have no idea why this amazingly flavorful Genovese-style meat sauce isn't way more popular than it is. It's quite simply one of the best pasta sauces you'll ever taste, thanks to a very slow cooking process, and massive amounts of onions.

Provided by Chef John

Categories World Cuisine Recipes European Italian

Time 10h

Yield 8

Number Of Ingredients 18

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
6 ounces pancetta or salt pork, diced
2 ½ pounds beef chuck
2 teaspoons kosher salt
½ cup diced celery
½ cup diced carrot
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 bay leaf
⅔ cup white wine
4 pounds yellow onions, sliced
2 pounds red onions, sliced
salt to taste
2 (16 ounce) boxes uncooked rigatoni
1 tablespoon chopped fresh marjoram leaves
1 pinch cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Steps:

Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Cook pancetta until most of fat is rendered out, about 6 minutes. Remove cooked pancetta with a slotted spoon and save.
Raise heat to high and transfer meat to the pot. Season with salt. Cook and stir until liquid releases from beef and begins to evaporate, and meat browns, 10 to 15 minutes.
Reduce heat to medium-high. Add celery, carrots, reserved cooked pancetta, salt and pepper. Cook and stir about 5 minutes. Add a heaping tablespoon of tomato paste, bay leaf, and white wine. Cook and stir, scraping up the brownings from the bottom of the pan, 2 to 3 minutes. Add sliced onions. Reduce heat to medium. Cover pot and cook 30 minutes without stirring. After 30 minutes, stir onions and meat until well mixed. Cover again, and cook another 30 minutes. Stir.
Reduce heat to low and cook uncovered 8 to 10 hours, stirring occasionally. Skim off fat as mixture cooks. If sauce seems to reduce too much, add water or broth as needed to maintain a sauce-like consistency. Cook until beef and onions seem to melt into each other.
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook rigatoni in the boiling water, stirring occasionally until just barely al dente, 10 to 12 minutes. Drain.
Add rigatoni to the sauce and cook until heated through. Serve topped with a pinch of marjoram and freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.

Nutrition Facts : Calories 891.2 calories, Carbohydrate 116.8 g, Cholesterol 79.9 mg, Fat 29.5 g, Fiber 10.1 g, Protein 38.9 g, SaturatedFat 10.3 g, Sodium 1022.2 mg, Sugar 19.2 g

PASTA ALLA GENOVESE

Pasta alla Genovese image

To many Neapolitans, the beef sauce La Genovese is at the heart of the city's cooking. Yet it's little more than onions (lots of them) and beef, simmered until both fall apart. Boiling the onions before cooking is a variation on traditional technique and could be considered a shortcut; it does save time, though not a whole lot of it. It's easy enough, and more traditional, to slice the onions raw and increase cooking time accordingly.

Provided by Mark Bittman

Categories pastas

Time 3h30m

Yield 6 to 8 servings

Number Of Ingredients 10

Ingredients

4 1/4 pounds red onions
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
1 celery rib, trimmed and roughly chopped
1/4 pound bacon or pancetta, chopped
2 1/4 pounds beef chuck, cut into 2-inch cubes
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup dry white wine, plus more if desired
1 pound dried pasta, like ziti, tortiglioni or rigatoni
Finely grated Parmesan cheese

Steps:

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Place the onions in the boiling water, and cook, covered, 15 minutes. Drain the onions, and let cool a bit, then slice very thinly.
Heat half the oil in a large heavy pot over medium-high heat; stir in the carrots, celery and bacon, and cook for 4 minutes. Add the beef, then cover with the onions. Pour the remaining oil over the onions, then sprinkle with 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and 3/4 teaspoon pepper. Cover, bring to a simmer and cook gently until the beef is tender, about 2 hours; the onions will release a good deal of liquid.
Uncover the pot and bring to a boil. Cook, stirring more frequently as the liquid reduces and lowering the heat as necessary to prevent scorching, until the meat has fallen apart and the sauce is creamy, about 45 minutes. Stir in the wine and taste, adding more wine if desired. Reduce the heat to low, and continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the sauce is glossy and quite thick, about 15 minutes more.
Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente, then drain and toss with the sauce. Stir in Parmesan to taste, then serve.

Nutrition Facts : @context http, Calories 628, UnsaturatedFat 15 grams, Carbohydrate 68 grams, Fat 22 grams, Fiber 7 grams, Protein 40 grams, SaturatedFat 6 grams, Sodium 1110 milligrams, Sugar 13 grams, TransFat 0 grams

LA GENOVESE

La Genovese image

It seems unclear why a dish characteristic of Napoli should be called after a Ligurian port. Some say it's because a Genovese sailor cooked it for some locals and the goodness of it was hailed throughout the hungry city. Others will tell you that Genovese is nothing more than a torturing of Ginevrina-of Geneva-hence giving a Swiss chef, one from the tribe of the Bourbons' monzù, no doubt, credit for the sauce (page 84). The truth of its origins, adrift forever, holds less fascination, I think, than the patently simple recipe and the lovely, lush sort of texture the meat takes on from its long, slow dance in the pot.

Yield serves 6

Number Of Ingredients 11

Ingredients

2 ounces salt pork
1 ounce salame
1 ounce prosciutto
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 pounds top or bottom round of beef, tied at 2-inch intervals with butcher's twine
4 to 5 large yellow onions, peeled and sliced thin
3 medium carrots, scraped and chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 cup canned tomato puree
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 1/3 cups dry white wine

Steps:

With a mezzaluna or a very sharp knife, mince the salt pork, salame, and prosciutto to a fine paste. In a terra-cotta or enameled cast-iron casserole-just large enough to hold the beef and its accessories-warm the olive oil over a medium flame and soften the paste in it.
Pat the beef dry with absorbent paper towels and brown it in the fragrant fat, crusting it well on all sides-a process that takes at least 10 minutes. Remove the now deeply crusted beef to a holding plate.
Add the onions, carrots, and celery to the pot, rolling them about in the fat, softening them without coloring them. Add the tomato puree, the sea salt, and the wine, stirring, scraping at the residue in the pan and letting the sauce simmer gently for 1 minute before returning the beef to the pot.
Cover the casserole tightly and, over a low flame, braise the beef, its liquids barely simmering, for 2 1/2 hours.
When the beef is fork-tender, it is properly cooked. Should it require longer braising, add a few tablespoonfuls more of wine, replace the lid, and let the whole continue to cook for 20 to 30 minutes more. Permit the dish a 1/2 hour's repose. I would never think to strain the sauce of all the lush debris remaining from the aromatics, the salame, and the prosciutto. I suppose, though, a classic Swiss cook might think to improve it by straining it. I'd hope for his sake that he might spread the resultant paste on a heft of warm toast and eat it for his own private lunch. Should you wish to precede its presentation with pasta, see the instructions on page 71.