Florentines refer to vegetarian ragu as “sugo finto,” which literally means fake sauce (“fake” because a “proper” sauce would always include meat). This pasta sauce is made with onions, carrots, celery, tomatoes, and red wine, and is fantastic for corzetti because of its meaty consistency.
Corzetti pasta with vegetarian ragu (“sugo finto”)
Ingredients (serves 4):
For the sauce:
2 carrots
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
1 celery
a bunch of parsley
a can of tomato juice
1/2 bottle of red wine (Chianti)
extra virgin olive oil
black pepper
salt
Wash and clean the carrots, onion, celery and parseley. Chop finely the onion and the garlic cloves and set aside. Then chop the vegetables.
Heat some extra virgin olive oil in a large pot, and when the oil is hot, add the chopped onion and garlic, and the vegetables. Sauté for a few minutes until the onion becomes translucent and the other vegetables are soft. Once the vegetables turn golden, add the red wine, preferably Chianti, and let it evaporate. Now add the tomato juice, stirring from time to time. In one hour or so, sugo finto will be ready.