Traditional ragu alla bolognese, with fresh egg tagliatelle

Recipe

For the sauce

• 1-1.5 lb (454-681g) ground meat (typically a combination of beef and pork)
• 2-3 oz (57-85g) pancetta or other fatty cured meat (this is skippable)
• 2 celery stalks (I also save the leaves for garnish)
• 2-3 carrots
• 1/2 an onion
• white wine (can use water instead plus a splash of white balsamic vinegar)
• chicken stock (I used a whole 1 quart, 946 mL carton but you could replace some or all with plain water)
• milk
• tomato paste
• butter or olive oil
• salt
• pepper

For the pasta

• 6 eggs
• all-purpose flour (about 3 cups, 360g plus more for dusting)
• olive oil
• salt

Dice the pancetta finely and throw it into a cold pan big enough to hold all your sauce. Turn the heat on medium and let it render out its fat while you dice your carrots. (If you're skipping the pancetta, just heat a film of olive oil or butter in the pan.) Stir the carrots into the pan. Dice the celery and stir it in, followed by the onion. At this point you may need some more fat to cook the vegetables, so put in a knob of butter or a glug of olive oil. Cook over moderate heat until the vegetables are soft but not brown. Dump them back out onto the cutting board.

Put the ground meat into the pan and turn the heat up higher. Stir the meat and break it up with a wooden spoon until you've evaporated off most of its water and you've gotten some good browning. Stir in a big squeeze of tomato paste and then deglaze with enough white wine to just submerge everything. Stir in a pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper, reduce the heat and simmer for at least two hours (4-5 hours is better). Stir occasionally and replenish the liquid with enough stock to keep everything just barely submerged.

At some point while you're simmering, make the fresh pasta dough. Beat the eggs smooth with a glug of olive oil and pinch of salt. Stir in as much flour as the eggs will take. Knead the dough with additional flour until it's reasonably smooth and only a little sticky. Cover and let rest for at least 20 minutes.

When you're about a half hour away from dinner, let the sauce evaporate out most of its water and then pour in just enough milk to get everything submerged again. Simmer gently, stirring occasionally until the sauce is thick. Now would be a good time to put a pot of salted water on the boil for pasta and to roll the dough out.

Put your dough ball on a clean counter, scatter heavily with flour and roll with a rolling pin, turning and flipping frequently to make sure every surface is well-floured and doesn't stick. Keep rolling until you've got the sheet as thin as you can reasonably get it. Again make sure it's well-floured and then fold it over on itself a few times and transfer to a cutting board. Cut it into wide strips for tagliatelle. Scatter the strips with more flour and toss them to get them unfolded and separated.

When the sauce is thick, taste it for seasoning and add salt, pepper, etc. (I might give it a splash of vinegar and maybe even a pinch of sugar — call the Pasta Police.)

Drop the pasta in the boiling water and cook for a few minutes until it swells up noticeably and floats strongly to the surface. Drain, leaving a little pasta water behind to mix with the sauce. Stir in as much sauce as you want to coat all the pasta and serve — grated cheese is not traditional but live your own life.