Couch. Ragu. Space for space

I got a new couch. It was a long time coming and I really needed a couch. It fills a space — in my house, in my life — by creating a space. A little ship I can get into and feel bounded, rolling along on life’s waves, dreaming, reading, talking to a friend.

This space to fill a space is what feels needed right now. The summer is tumbling over, seed heads split and scatter, emptying out. The forces of new life are tipping over into the influence of spoilage yeast, mold — not yet death but the chaos of transformation. The wine is being made in the winery, grapes (exquisite bunched jewels) are crushed and melded with the yeasts on their skins and begin their magical fermentation. The nights ‘draw in’… the edges of the light get closer, the day more tightly sandwiched between an expanse of dark and chill. It feels welcome after summer’s riotous energy wanes. But also like the tide pulling the sand out from under your feet: uncertain.

This beautiful tipping over from full-on growth toward release and decay is the Libra season. The sense of hanging in the balance after the work of bringing in the harvest in Virgo. It can feel tenuous and dispersing. I needed to feel contained, on my couch with a dark stew simmering.

I make ragù when I have leftover steak or roast meat.

Some onion, celery, carrot if you have it. Garlic, tomatoes (fresh or canned). This one I used parsley stems, red onion, garlic, and a sprig of sage because it grows at my doorstep.

Hand chopping the meat gives a good rubbly texture. Browning it in a very hot pan (not cast iron which will react badly with the tomato that’s coming), get lots of dark crust on the surface of the pan, and don’t stir so the meat gets a chance to get browned. Adding the ‘aromatics’ — the ‘odori’ as the Italians call the flavoring vegetables— the onion etc begins the deglazing of the pan. After a bit the tomatoes continue it with perhaps a slosh of wine to help. Stir and scrape all the good brown bits into the sauce, then let it cook down to almost dry before adding hot stock or water. Let it cook down and bring it up with liquid 3 or 4 times, keeping it at a gentle bubble. It should take an hour or three. Toward the end add milk, butter, cream if you like. Black pepper toward the end too because you can taste it better than if it gets burnt or cooked long. And eat with rice, pasta, or polenta and a cloud mountain of parmigiano.