Whole Wheat Penne with Ground Turkey Ragu - 1/28/09
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Cooking around this time of the year can be difficult. First a lot of people are trying to stick to New
Year’s resolutions of eating heather but at the same time the cold weather has us craving hearty
comfort foods. I was battling this very dilemma the other night and to make matters worse I didn’t
plan ahead so I had to make do with the ingredients in the house. I’ve written before how I like to use
cookbooks to learn techniques that I can then apply to my own dishes, this is a perfect example. I used
the Babbo Cookbook by Mario Batali as guidance for a Ragu but incorporated alternative ingredients
based on my healthy cooking needs and limited ingredients.
The original recipe used Boar Sausage for the meat in the Ragu and surprisingly I didn’t have any
lying around. However I did have ground turkey on hand. Turkey however has a much more mild
flavor than boar sausage. While I was not looking to replicate the Babbo dish I was looking for a
similar flavor profiles.
The first step is browning the turkey in one of my favorite cooking vessels, a Dutch oven. The meat is
then removed and chopped onions, carrots, garlic and celery are sautéed in the same pan. Since the
vegetables will be in the sauce I made sure to use a fine dice to avoid any large chunks. Also even size
is important to ensure all of the pieces cook at the same pace. I didn’t have any celery so I decided to
season the veggies with celery salt. It’s not a clear substitute but I was hoping the salt would make up
some of the missing flavor. Once the veggies have softened the liquid ingredients are added. In the
recipe this includes white wine, canned tomatoes and chicken stock. I had all three so I was able to
follow the next step verbatim. However I did still have to address the milder flavor of the turkey. We
actually had a leftover smoked ham hock in the fridge, my wife had made chili earlier in the week. I
decided to add the ham hock to the liquid hoping to infuse some of the smoky meat flavor that was
missing from the absence of sausage. Along that same line of thinking I also added red pepper flakes to
provide a little heat. The entire mixture is left to simmer for about an hour.
Babbo serves the Ragu with Green Fazzoletti which literally means “face towels” in Italian. The pasta
is a homey wide and flat variety similar to Pappardelle. I had whole wheat penne on hand which
probably isn’t the best pairing for a Ragu but the whole wheat aspect fit in with my diet. Typically
flat pasta is used with a Ragu because it pairs with the chunks of meat better. To finish off the dish I
removed the ham hock and returned the cooked ground turkey to the sauce. The pasta was then
added to the Dutch over to mix with the sauce. I prefer to mix the entire batch of pasta with the sauce
rather than the individual serving bowls. I just think it absorbs more that way. All that was needed
at the end was some shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano.
I was really blown away with the results. Utilizing the ham hock really did add some smoky flavor to
the dish but I think it would have worked without it as well. The sauce had the rich depth of flavor
you’d expect in a Ragu and the sausage really wasn’t missed. The health benefit of replacing turkey
for boar sausage is obvious but I really expected more of a drop off in taste. The whole wheat pasta
absorbed the sauce just enough to carry the flavors through the dish. We had enough left over for
lunch and I found myself checking the clock in anticipation the next day. I felt we had both a healthy
and hearty meal that was full of flavor and easy to prepare. Overall I felt this was a great example of
how a restaurant recipe can be adapted for everyday cooking at home.
Recipe Source: The Babbo Cookbook by Mario Batali
Year’s resolutions of eating heather but at the same time the cold weather has us craving hearty
comfort foods. I was battling this very dilemma the other night and to make matters worse I didn’t
plan ahead so I had to make do with the ingredients in the house. I’ve written before how I like to use
cookbooks to learn techniques that I can then apply to my own dishes, this is a perfect example. I used
the Babbo Cookbook by Mario Batali as guidance for a Ragu but incorporated alternative ingredients
based on my healthy cooking needs and limited ingredients.
The original recipe used Boar Sausage for the meat in the Ragu and surprisingly I didn’t have any
lying around. However I did have ground turkey on hand. Turkey however has a much more mild
flavor than boar sausage. While I was not looking to replicate the Babbo dish I was looking for a
similar flavor profiles.
The first step is browning the turkey in one of my favorite cooking vessels, a Dutch oven. The meat is
then removed and chopped onions, carrots, garlic and celery are sautéed in the same pan. Since the
vegetables will be in the sauce I made sure to use a fine dice to avoid any large chunks. Also even size
is important to ensure all of the pieces cook at the same pace. I didn’t have any celery so I decided to
season the veggies with celery salt. It’s not a clear substitute but I was hoping the salt would make up
some of the missing flavor. Once the veggies have softened the liquid ingredients are added. In the
recipe this includes white wine, canned tomatoes and chicken stock. I had all three so I was able to
follow the next step verbatim. However I did still have to address the milder flavor of the turkey. We
actually had a leftover smoked ham hock in the fridge, my wife had made chili earlier in the week. I
decided to add the ham hock to the liquid hoping to infuse some of the smoky meat flavor that was
missing from the absence of sausage. Along that same line of thinking I also added red pepper flakes to
provide a little heat. The entire mixture is left to simmer for about an hour.
Babbo serves the Ragu with Green Fazzoletti which literally means “face towels” in Italian. The pasta
is a homey wide and flat variety similar to Pappardelle. I had whole wheat penne on hand which
probably isn’t the best pairing for a Ragu but the whole wheat aspect fit in with my diet. Typically
flat pasta is used with a Ragu because it pairs with the chunks of meat better. To finish off the dish I
removed the ham hock and returned the cooked ground turkey to the sauce. The pasta was then
added to the Dutch over to mix with the sauce. I prefer to mix the entire batch of pasta with the sauce
rather than the individual serving bowls. I just think it absorbs more that way. All that was needed
at the end was some shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano.
I was really blown away with the results. Utilizing the ham hock really did add some smoky flavor to
the dish but I think it would have worked without it as well. The sauce had the rich depth of flavor
you’d expect in a Ragu and the sausage really wasn’t missed. The health benefit of replacing turkey
for boar sausage is obvious but I really expected more of a drop off in taste. The whole wheat pasta
absorbed the sauce just enough to carry the flavors through the dish. We had enough left over for
lunch and I found myself checking the clock in anticipation the next day. I felt we had both a healthy
and hearty meal that was full of flavor and easy to prepare. Overall I felt this was a great example of
how a restaurant recipe can be adapted for everyday cooking at home.
Recipe Source: The Babbo Cookbook by Mario Batali
Hudson Valley Food Blog
