I love pasta – it’s a comfort food. And I love the Italian view of food and cooking. It’s my own ideal. Cooking and food is love. I cook with purpose to give my family and friends something special to show how much I care. Bolognese sauce takes hours to make it a traditional way, simmer over low heat 3-4-5 hours. The longer the better until the meat breaks down into fine pieces and merges with the tomatoes and stock. So it’s a good weekend meal for me. I used beef and ground turkey today. That not so traditional as veal and pork are probably more often used in Emilia-Romagna.
I also make an Eggplant Bolognese, but today, all meat. Traditionally served over tagliatelle, wide long pasta, I don’t have any so I will substitute fettuccine tonight. Make some fresh pasta (that would be divine!) or use what you have on hand. The whole point is to gather together around the table and enjoy each others company.
I like to buy whole canned tomatoes and whir them up with the canned sauce in a food processor. It just seems fresher to me than using canned sauce. Though I certainly have plenty of that on hand as well. I especially like the Mutti brand of tomato products. Available on line, this line is also available with my weekly Misfits Market Order. Save $10 on your first order using the coupon code: COOKWME-NX3NKU .
I used white wine this time, but red is fine. I always have a few small bottles of wine in the kitchen – the little 187 ml one serving size. This way I do not have to open a large bottle if I do not have plans to drink it right away. It’s important to let the meat and wine cook down, so the alcohol cooks off and only the flavor essence is left. As the meat sauce cooks, it may begin to get to dry. Add more water when necessary, about 1/2 cup at a time. I keep the tomato tin filled part way with water so the rest of the sauce clinging to the can gets rinsed out and into the sauce.
I went out to my greenhouse to get a few springs of herbs before they are gone with autumn. So some fresh sage leaves, parsley and basil. Parsley gets stirred in at the end, and basil on top to serve.
Don’t let the length of time deter you from trying this. There is nothing difficult about this sauce. And if you need to stop to do something, turn off the heat and let it rest for a while, then start the heat up again when you return to the kitchen.
Leftover sauce can be refrigerated for a few days or frozen for later use. Ideally the pasta would be put into the sauce and serve in one large bowl, but for only 2 of us, I keep the sauce separate and freeze leftovers.
Meat Bolognese Sauce
A hearty, slow cooked meat sauce to go over pasta. Plan ahead, it needs to simmer for hours.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- ½ cup diced pancetta
- 1 medium onion diced
- 2 ribs celery diced
- 3 small carrots diced
- 2-3 cloves of garlic minced
- 1 lb ground beef or veal
- ½ pound ground turkey (pork would be more traditional)
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 bay leaves
- 4 sage leaves or ½ tsp ground sage
- 1 cup white wine or 750 ml bottle
- 1-2 cups water
- 1 cup tomato sauce (or whole tomatoes and sauce whirred up)
- 2 cups chicken or beef stock
- ½ cup milk
- Cooked pasta – Tagliatelle and pasta water saved
- Grated Parmigiana
Instructions
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In a large deep pan (chicken fryer or Dutch oven), gently heat the oil and add in the pancetta. Fry the pancetta until it starts to release it’s own fat and browns slightly. Add in the onion, celery and carrots.
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Once the vegetables start to soften, add the garlic and stir through.
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Add the meat and break up into very small mince. No large chunks! Stir and brown until there is no pink meat. Add the nutmeg and salt, bay leaves, sage and white wine. Cook until the wine is well reduced, and alcohol has burned offw
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Add the tomato sauce and stock, stir well.
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Turn heat to low and cover. Simmer for 3-4 hours. Add more water if it starts to get dry. By the end of cooking, it should be fairly dry, and all water cooked out.
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Still over low heat, add the milk and simmer briefly. Add a bit of pasta water to the sauce if it is too dry.
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Serve over cooked pasta. Grate parmigiana cheese over top.
Recipe Notes
Red wine may be used instead of white wine. Beef/veal ground meat and ground pork are traditionally used. Some versions do use skirt steak cut up finely in place of ground meat.
Every nonna has their own version!
