That being said, the “Italian” food found in the vast majority of countries, especially Anglophone countries, do not resemble real Italian food from Italy whatsoever. Take Olive Garden’s fettuccine alfredo with chicken, greasy Dominos pizzas laden with barbecue sauce and pineapple, or spaghetti with meatballs, for example. None of the greasy dishes listed above ladened full of hyper-processed and unhealthy ingredients, remotely share a similarity with the light, healthy Mediterranean Italian diet. Real Italian food is made using local, seasonal produce, with very few hyper-processed ingredients. Many Italian families keep a mini garden, and they often use their own produce, combined with fresh local produce grown and raised under strict government regulation. Then, meals are prepared delicately with love, respecting centuries-old traditions while constantly producing new innovation. As such, nearly every Italian meal is fresh, delicious, and a healthy product, and  these meals contribute to Italy having one of the highest life expectancies in the world.

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WHY ITS HEALTHY FOR SENIORS:

This recipe uses bison, an excellent source of protein that is similar to beef. Bison is high in all of the following:

• VITAMIN B2, B3, and B6: These vitamins are involved with energy production, and red blood cell formation

• IRON: important for red blood cells and all oxygen-required processes

• SELENIUM: serves as an antioxidant to fight oxidative stress

• ZINC: supports the immune system, helps with smooth cell division and growth, as well as healing and repairing wounds.

• PROTEIN: bison is exceptionally high in good-quality protein, and protein helps seniors retain muscular strength and helps with muscular function.

BEEF is also high in the nutrients above. However, bison has lower cholesterol and fat than beef, making it a more senior friendly choice.
 

AGING FRIENDLY RAGÙ ALLA BOLOGNESE

Time: 3 hrs cooking, 1hr prep

Difficulty: Relatively difficult

Equipment: dutch oven, saucepan, ladle, wooden spoon, pasta roller, cheese grater

RAGU:

• Roughly chop the guanciale into lardons, and put into a cold dutch oven or saucepan.

• Put the saucepan with the guanciale onto a medium heat, and slowly render the fat until the guanciale turns crispy on the outside. Take out guanciale, and save the fat.

• Prepare the soffritto/mirepoix. Finely julienne 1 stick of celery before cutting into brunoise.

• Grate one medium-sized carrot using the largest shredder on a cheese grater until the carrot is nicely shredded. (cutting with a knife into a fine brunoise will deliver a slightly better result, but using a cheese grater is significantly less labor intensive and senior friendly)

• Finely cut a large onion into small brunoise. Combine the three soffritto vegetables and set to a side.

• Brown the meat. In the same pan used to render the guanciale fat, brown the ground bison. Really try to get a good sear on it.

• Pour out the oil used to cook the meat and let the dutch oven cool a little bit, but make sure you keep the fond at the bottom of the pan.

• Add extra virgin olive oil to the same dutch oven. Pour in the soffritto vegetables and cook on medium-low until vegetables start to release a nice smell, but not browned. 

• Pour in half a glass of white wine to deglaze the dutch oven when vegetables are releasing a nice aroma. Make sure to scoop up the fond from the bottom as you do this.

• Once all the alcohol smell is burned off, add the browned bison back into the dutch oven.

• Turn heat to maximum and add one more glass of white wine to the pan, stirring until alcohol is burned off.

• Lower the heat to medium and add half a can (200g) of chopped Italian tomatoes and stir through. Add 3 ladles of broth or water, adjusting upon how much liquid you have in the pan. You should have enough liquid in the pan for it to resemble a stew.

• Reduce the heat to low, and simmer for at least two hours. Check the ragu every 15-20 minutes for liquid. If there is too little liquid, add 2 ladles of broth and stir.

• Season only at the very end to taste with salt and pepper. Ragu is done.

FRESH PASTA (IF MAKING):

• Make fresh tagliatelle while the sauce is simmering (if you choose to, otherwise use dried semolina tagliatelle). Build a volcano with the 2 cups of 00 flour, large enough to hold 3 eggs.

• Crack in the 3 eggs, and combine the yolks with the whites.

• Gently, using a fork, incorporate the flour bit by bit.

• Once dough gets a bit drier use either a dough chopper or hands to incorporate.

• Once incorporated, knead the pasta dough for 10 minutes until smooth.

• Allow dough to rest, wrapped in cling film, at room temperature for 30 minutes.

• Once dough has rested, dust generously with semolina flour to prevent sticking

• Roll out the dough using a pasta machine, starting with a thick setting and gradually getting thinner.

• When dough is rolled thin enough, dust once more with semolina. Fold the dough three times (until you have a pile that is 3 layers thick). Cut out strings of tagliatelle using a knife. Each string should be exactly 7mm thick.

• When ragu is done, cook the pasta.To cook the pasta, boil in salted water for around 2 minutes, or until slightly under al dente.

DRIED PASTA (if using):

• When ragu is done, cook the pasta. To cook the pasta, boil in salted water according to package instructions until slightly under al dente.

FINISHING:

• Lightly oil a medium-sized frying pan or skillet and heat over medium-high heat.

• Scoop in 2 large ladles of ragu, and fry over medium heat for 30 seconds.

• Add one portion of pasta. Stir through the sauce and toss to combine. Add half a ladle (or one whole ladle) of pasta cooking water to combine.

• Grate in a generous amount of parmigiano-reggiano, and toss to combine until cheese thickens.

• Plate the pasta on a large plate with all the sauce in the saucepan. Doesn’t have to be fancy, ragu is a really homey dish anyway. Grate over parmigiano-reggiano to your liking, and serve.