Italian Dinner

On our second trip to Rome, Italy we went to a small, local restaurant near the Pantheon, St. Ignacio, The Cave. It was Easter the restaurant was packed with all locals but we had a great waiter who ran around serving everybody very ably - he even called himself Speedy Gonzalez, the kids, especially Theo, loved him.

We had one of our best meals there, pasta with Bolognese sauce and I learned about some foods I had never had before, lemon-rice balls, an appetizer and Limoncella, a tart, lemon-flavored aperitif.

Theo ate so much of the Bologenese that I had to learn to make it at home. Here it is.

Make a ragu of 2 large chopped onions, 4 stalks of finely chopped celery, 1 C shredded carrots and 1 C of diced pancetta. Saute until soft in 1 T of Olive Oil and 1 T of butter.

When the vegetables are soft, stir in 1 1/4 Lb. of lean ground beef and 2 large minced cloves of garlic. Heat the meat through so no longer pink.

Increase heat, stir in 2 T tomato paste, 1 T of flour, cook 1-2 minutes longer, Add 2/3 C each of beef broth and red wine, Add 14 oz can of chopped tomatoes and 2 t of dried Oregano and several grates of Nutmeg,

Simmer for 45 minutes, serve on your favorite pasta.

I made a nice Antipasto salad and some easy garlic and olive oil bread cubes. For the latter take a cibatta or other dense Italian bread, cube and place in large bowl. Drizzle, liberally, with olive oil and grated Parmesan and Romano mixed with parsley, oregano and S & P. Mix and serve with forks or toothpicks, this disappears every time I make it.

Had Limoncella on the rocks with Italian cookies from Cantoro Market for dessert, felt like we were back in Rome - almost.

Bon Appetit.