It finally feels like winter has arrived and I decided to ring in the season with a Ragu alla Bolognese. My friend Teresa from Rome and I had just had a conversation last weekend about Ragu and my Mom, the day after Thanksgiving, also declared a desire to make Ragu.

I jumped on the band wagon with a very simple recipe I got from the Silver Spoon or Il Cucchiaio D’Argento. My only missing ingredient was some celery for the soffritto but I think it came out rather nicely.

It seemed sort of like my own Sunday Sauce. I’ve noticed a number of Italian restaurants in New York City have a Sunday Sauce on their menu, including ‘Cesca on the Upper West Side. Another restaurant which elaborates on this concept is Table Tales at the South Street Seaport. Grace the owner was nice enough to give me an interview earlier this year and I will write it up tomorrow because I left my notes in the office.

What to drink with my Ragu? The book suggested a Gutturnio or a wine from the Colli Piacentini but I think I may stick with a nice Sangiovese, perhaps even one from Romagna. I’ve had a few that I enjoyed but they are few and far between. One that I did like was from San Patrignano. This is a community in Romagna that helps people with addiction issues. They have been hugely successful with their charges and also with a wine and food business. I like to support them for this reason as well but they do make a mean Sangiovese, somewhat more modern in style than those that I drink from Tuscany but none the less, quite interesting. The wines are widely available throughout the United States as well.