I wrote this recipe during COVID when it was very difficult to buy any food, let alone what you actually wanted to buy. I think it is a great example of how to make due with what you can find and how to stretch ingredients to feed a large group of people.
For ease of assembling the ingredients, they are:
1 onion
Carrots
Celery
1 pound ground chicken (or any type of ground meat or sausage)
28 oz can plum tomatoes (can be whole, diced, ground, etc.)
white wine (or red)
extra virgin olive oil
salt
pepper
optional: red pepper flakes, nutmeg
Fresh herbs (thyme, parsley, basil all work)
Parmesan cheese (optional)
Butter (optional)
Here is the story:
Tuesday was rather trying — I got up at 5:45 am to hit the grocery store at 6 thinking that a delivery truck had arrived overnight. Not only was no delivery made, but the store was packed with anxious shoppers in face masks and surgical gloves trying to avoid the coronavirus. As one employee told me “it is even worse today than it was yesterday with less food.”
Well, I persisted and the third trip to the store was a charm. I miraculously scored one pound of ground chicken and one 28 oz can of plum tomatoes. This would have to feed seven and I immediately thought of ragu (by the way, you could make this with any kind of ground meat — turkey, beef, pork, veal, ground sausage out of the casing, you name it. I just happened to find chicken).
When I got home I checked my pantry and refrigerator and found what ingredients I had that would work. Here they are:
I got out my dutch oven — a large 4-6 quart pot would do nicely too — and preheated it on medium. Then I made my mirepoix which consists of equal parts diced onion, carrots and celery (note I store the celery in foil which prolongs its life, a nice tip I got from my dad).
I added extra virgin olive oil to coat the bottom of the hot pan, and once it was hot and shimmering, I added the mirepoix, seasoned it with salt and freshly ground black pepper, and sautéed it, stirring with a wooden spoon until the vegetables were soft but not brown. This took about 6-8 minutes. Then I removed the vegetables from the pot, jacked up the heat to medium-high and cooked the chicken.
The secret to getting as much flavor out if the meat is to be sure to brown, not steam it. To do this, I pinched 1 inch sized pieces of ground chicken from the package and added them to the pot with a lot of space in between each piece. After seasoning the chicken with salt and pepper, I waited about 4 or 5 minutes until the bottom sides were brown. Then I flipped them over with tongs, seasoned with salt and pepper, and cooked until the second side was brown. I removed them from the pan and placed them with the cooked vegetables. I repeated this process until I finished browning all of the chicken.
Next, I added back the vegetables and the rest of the cooked chicken and added enough white wine to cover the bottom of the pan and up the sides by about 1/4 inch (you could use red wine too, I just thought the white went better with chicken). I seasoned with salt and pepper, and cooked everything until all the wine was evaporated. Then I opened the can of tomatoes and added it along with a can full of cold water (this not only adds more liquid but it also gets all the good tomato juice out of the can and into the ragu).
I added salt and pepper (yes, again), a few grinds of nutmeg (always buy whole nutmeg and grind it on a microplane for better flavor), a few pinches of hot red pepper flakes and a few sprigs of thyme. The seasonings are optional and flexible so add what you have and like. Just be sure to add the salt and pepper.
I simmered the the ragu for one hour. Since I made it a few hours before dinner, I had the added advantage of allowing it to meld for the flavors to develop over time. You could definitely make this a day or two ahead.
When we were ready to eat, I boiled a large pot of water and salted it heavily once it came to a boil (it should taste salty “like the ocean”). Then I added one pound of rigatoni (but any pasta shape you have will do), and cooked it for 2 minutes less than al dente (as noted on the package instructions). While this was happening, I brought the ragu to a simmer and then added about 1 cup of pasta cooking water. The pasta water is what makes the pasta and the sauce stick together and become one dish.
When the pasta was ready, I took a spider (which is a spoon shaped sieve (you could alternately reserve some cooking liquid and drain the pasta)) and added it to the sauce. I tossed and tossed the pasta with tongs to thoroughly combine it with the sauce, adding more pasta cooking liquid to loosen the sauce as needed.
Finally, I added two tablespoons of butter and tossed the butter until it was completely melted. This makes the pasta glossy like you see in restaurants. I finished the dish with chopped parsley and grated parmesan cheese.
This dish fed us all with a small amount of leftovers for lunch the next day. And I only used one pound of pasta and one pound of ground chicken. A very satisfying and flexible meal!
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