recipes from italian moms: mary vincent's ragu

In the seven years that Manu and I have been together, I’ve never called his mom by her real first name, Enza, short for Maria Vincenza. I instead opted for an Americanized version, Mary Vincent, that made it feel less like I was calling her by her first name, and more like a fun, little inside joke between us. She’s an English teacher so that made it all the more fitting. (Anyone else with me on this in-law name debacle?)

Mary Vincent is probably the most selfless person I’ve ever met, if you don’t count my late Nana. She is constantly doing anything and everything for everybody else, so when we go to her house for Sunday lunch, I always try to give her a hand. Whether she lets me is another question!
There’s always mass confusion in the few minutes before the pasta is done and we’re ready to eat. In Italy you have to eat as soon as the pasta’s ready, so if you’re not at the table in that moment expect a mom to be yelling at you. Manu’s mom wouldn’t though, she’d just say, “A tavola, please!”
This Sunday was no different, and the house was in chaos; Manu’s niece and nephew were running around, his sister was chatting on the phone to her friend, Manu’s dad was trying to explain to me when our sheet rock was going to be put up, his other sister was memorizing her chemistry homework out loud and poor Mary Vincent was just trying to get her gorgeous ragu atop everyone’s orrecchiette.

“Count the plates, Mari,” she said sweetly, “did I get us all?” Eight plates of pasta, nine if you include baby Nicole. She ate the orrecchiette too.

Mary Vincent’s Ragu 3 tbs olive oil 1 yellow onion, chopped 1 pound veal or beef chuck, in chunks 2 28-ounce cans crushed tomatoes 1 tsp salt In a large dutch oven, heat the oil over medium high and add the onion and the meat. Cook until meat is seared well, about 15 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and salt. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 3 hours. Remove meat and add more salt or pepper to taste. Makes about enough for 8-9 servings of pasta. Serve meat on the side. *Just to clarify, when tomato sauce in Italy has been cooked with meat in it, it’s called ragu. When it’s ground meat, it’s Bolognese. This is Mary Vincent’s super simple version. Some people add sausages as well, or a cup of wine after the meat is seared and before the tomatoes are added.

Mary Vincent is the last person to sit down, letting out a little sigh of relief that her ragù turned out well and that she can finally rest. Someone’s fork’s gone missing though, and she hops up again, ready to wait on us all hand and foot. Selfless and a master at Sunday ragu, I’m lucky to have a mother-in-law like her.

P.S. The last "recipes from Italian moms" here.