In these tenuous times, I find myself making comfort food-homey dishes that surround your soul like a warm blanket.  One of my family’s all-time favorites is a long, slow-simmered ragu’ spooned over a bowl of pasta.  This usually requires a little forethought, prepping the ingredients, followed by hours of simmering on the stove.  Yes, it is so worth it but…

Well, whaddya know, I can make a rich, luxurious, delicious ragu’ in a fraction of the time with an Instant Pot.  I adapted a recipe I found on Chunky Chef and badabing-badaboom, a meat sauce that would win the approval of the Old Stoves in North Beach. Yay, I don’t have to start the sauce in the wee hours of the morning.

Winner, Winner, Pasta for Dinner

A ragu’ is essentially a meat sauce, this version is best described as a Ragu Alla Bolognese since it includes tomatoes.  Purists probably would omit the seasonings and require only meat and sofrito (onion, celery and carrot trinity) for the sauce. I like the flavor boosters.  You can add a bay leaf too if you like. DON’T ASK ME WHY.  I googled in vain for a definitive description of the flavor a bay leaf adds, you’ll just have to trust me.  Just remember to remove it at the end, along with the thyme sprigs.

No Mincing Here

The Instant Pot isn’t the only time saver.  Prep for the onions, carrots, and celery means pulling out your food processor.  This makes quick work of mincing the veggies.  Really, who wants to stand there chopping veggies into itty bitty pieces for a sauce.  Not me.  Yep, dust off that food processor and put it to work.  I also use it to puree the tomatoes.  Don’t wash it out after the veggies, just run the tomatoes by pulsing a couple of times and add.

Mantra:  Scrape the Bottom of Your Pot

Saute’ the meats and the soffritto making sure to scrape the bottom of the instant pot A LOT.  Twofold purpose:  One-Those little brown bits are flavor bombs so you want to keep them. Two-If left on the bottom of the pot, they will trigger the scorch-safety feature on the pot and turn OFF.  Ugh.  Make SCRAPE your mantra any time you saute’ in the Instant Pot.

Other than that, it’s pretty straightforward.  The sauce needs only 20 minutes (well, with pressure up time count on 30-35 minutes).  In about an hour you will be at the table saucing your pasta, passing the Parmesan, and enjoying a nice bottle of  Chianti (no fava beans please). Nom, nom, nom.

After adding the cream and basil you will have the voluptuous, unctuous sauce. Yes, I had to spell check both words.  Perfect on a bowl of pappardelle or tagliatelle or plate of ravioli.  Just dreaming of the pastabilities.

On a recent jaunt into the City, I headed to my favorite Italian Deli in the Marina, Lucca, to grab a meatball sammie for lunch. I also stocked up on their housemade ravioli and gnocchi from their freezer.  I came away with mushroom gnocchi and veal ravioli that were PERFECT with this ragu’.  The sauce and pasta freeze beautifully so a quick dinner is always at hand.

Lucca has been a favorite stop for a long, long time.  As a kid, I would get a sammie and chips before walking down to Hunt’s for an Icee and donut.  Those were the days.

All smiles digging into my bowl of mushroom gnocchi topped with amazingly quick to make Ragu’.

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Instant Pot Ragu Bolognese Sauce

A delicious ragu made in your pressure cooker that taste like it has simmered all day!

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian-American

Keyword Instant Pot, pasta, Ragu'

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes minutes

Servings 8

Equipment

• Instant Pot
• food processor

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 lb. lean ground beef I use 85/15
• 1/2 lb. Italian sausage mild or spicy or use ground pork
• 4 oz pancetta diced Feeling lazy? TJ's carries diced pancetta in a 4 oz package!
• 1 medium yellow onion minced
• 2 medium carrots peeled and minced
• 1 stalk celery minced
• 7 cloves garlic minced
• 1/2 cup dry red wine Ok, in a pinch you could use white wine
• 28 oz whole tomatoes pureed
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 2/3 cup beef broth - reduced sodium preferred or the mushroom soaking liquid
• 1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms, rehydrated and chopped Soaked in 3/4 cup warm water until soft,
• 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp granulated sugar
• 1 tsp dried oregano or 1 tablespoon fresh, chopped
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme or 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes omit if using spicy Italian Sausage
• 1/4 tsp black pepper

• 1/4 cup heavy cream or 1/2 cup whole milk or BUTTER a good chunk
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil or more if you like basil, use additional to sprinkle on top of dish
• freshly grated parmesan cheese at the table

Instructions

• Use the "Saute" function on Instant Pot. Add olive oil to the pot. Add the beef, Italian sausage, and pancetta and cook until browned, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon or spatula as it cooks. Drain the liquid into a bowl, leaving the meat mixture in the pot, skim off the oil and reserve. Return it to pot when the tomatoes and broth are added. It's all flavor babee.
• Add onion, carrot and celery and cook for 4 more minutes, or until softened. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the pot as the onions and peppers cook and give off liquid, this will prevent scorching and the auto-shut off feature.
• Add garlic and cook until fragrant, ~30 seconds. Add red wine and cook, stirring often, until reduced, about 2 minutes.
• Add remaining ingredients, except basil, fresh parsley and cream. Stir, once again scraping the bottom of the pot to ensure no browned bits remain.
• Cancel the saute, and place lid on Instant Pot, making sure the valve is set to "SEALING", DO AS I SAY NOT AS I DO, lol. Press the Pressure Cook or Manual button and use the +/- buttons to set the timer for 20 minutes.
• Once the timer beeps, use quick pressure release and vent. When the pin drops, remove lid. Remember, ITS HOT so be careful.
• Select "saute" and select LOW. Stir in heavy cream or milk, parsley and basil. Simmer, uncovered, stirring often, until desired consistency is reached, about 5 minutes.
• Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Serve over pasta with grated Parmesan cheese and additional chopped basil if desired.

Notes

• Make sure you scrape the bottom of your Instant Pot while sauteing FREQUENTLY! If any particles are stuck on the bottom the pot will turn off to prevent burning.
• You can omit the mushrooms, I like the earthiness it adds. Substitute the mushroom soaking liquid for beef broth if desired. Or for the double whammy, heat the beef broth and use it as the soaking liquid for the mushrooms.
• If you do not want to add dairy, drop a hunk of unsalted butter (4-5 T) into the sauce. The cream or milk is added to cut the acidity of the tomatoes and mellow the sauce, the butter kind of does the same.
• I love this sauce over rigatoni or pappardelle. Also on gnocchi, it is divine!