And that’s nothing whatsoever to do with that clown Mussolini’s attempt to Italianize french ragoût . Back in the 1930s the fascist initiative to introduce ‘ragutto’ flopped resoundingly.
So here you are - Hand-pulled fresh pici with Salmon Ragù / RAGUETTO al Salmone.
I used to call recipes like this a ‘fake Ragù‘ but today I’m officially launching the RAGUETTO… a sauce that you desperately want to seem like a Ragù but because of the ingredients or the time you have available needs to cook in a fraction of the time…
I struggle with the idea of poached salmon and tomatoes - I can never bring myself to put them together in a sandwich, there’s something that doesn’t quite work …. But last night, for the first time, I threw an improvised fish Ragù together with just a handful of ingredients, including TOMATOES and salmon.
And it worked. Fishy. Thymey. Tomatoey. Fresh. The world’s first RAGUETTO brought to you from still-relatively-sunny South London. In fact, damn it, from henceforth I declare the 25th August shall be RAGUETTO day. And guess what? You were here to witness the first.
SALMON RAGUETTO
FOR TWO
one salmon fillet per person
270g baby plum/mini San Marzano tomatoes
1 small grated clove of garlic
olive oil
a large handful of capers
fresh thyme
hand-pulled, fresh pici / fresh tagliatelle / fresh pappardelle / dry spaghettoni / dry fettuccine
Grate the garlic, warm it gently in EVO for about 60 seconds, no frying or colouring. Add the tomatoes, cut in half and cook gently for 5-10 minutes. Allow the, to break down and add a splash of water if need be. In the meantime, dry-fry the salmon fillets in your best non-stick pan. Throw a handful of capers in half way through the cooking - not too early or you’ll get cremated, bitter fossils. If the capers are looking too toasted, remove them from the pan and put them to one side to use in the final plating later. Rub some of the thyme together in your hands over the simmering sauce. Give it a hint of herbs, nothing over-powering. Boil and cook the pasta, flake the cooked salmon and discard the skin. When the pasta’s past ‘al dente’ and is about to get ‘chewy’, fish it out of the boiling pan and transfer straight to the tomato sauce. Toss to combine. sprinkle on the flaked salmon and toss some more. Plate. Loads of black or cayenne pepper on the top.
TO MAKE FRESH PICI
Make a simple plain flour and water pasta dough - 2:1 flour to water (so 300g flour + 150ml water etc). Need the dough for 10 mins then cover with cling film and rest in a fridge for 30-45 mins. Roll out small sections of the dough by hand to about 3mm thickness then cut those into strips about 6mm wide. Separate each rectangular section strip and roll and tease it into a thick strand about 3-4mm wide. Keep going.