Bolognese Meat Sauce

Ok, I’ve watched a look of cooking shows, and read even more cookbooks. I always hear about Bolognese, real Bolognese, this magical meat sauce that’s simmered all day until it because a sweet, rich, “gravy” that just can not be beat. With a husband that loves his jar of Ragu, and hates any form of “chunky” I was really banking on the flavour being just that much better, to make it worth it.  It was. Bo loved it, the kids loved it (Sophie REALLY loves it), and every bite just proved that sometimes it’s worth it to skip the short cuts.

Also – this freezes incredibly well. Do what I did, and make a giant double (or triple) batch, and store it in your freezer. I’ve already run through our entire supply, so I’ll be making this again soon. Nothing was better then 3pm on a Saturday, not feeling like cooking, and being able to pull that out for dinner. This is an all day cooking event though, as it just simmers away on the stove top building flavour, to make sure you don’t have anywhere to go.

I didn’t want to screw things up, so I went with a trusted source, Marcella Hazan, and her Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, which is pretty much considered the go-to for real Italian recipes. I adapted it a little bit, using a bit more meat, and just before I served it I made a few little seasoning changes (added a bit of brown sugar and Italian seasoning), because I knew those were the flavours my husband and kids would be looking for. When you make it though, taste first, then decide if you need/want to add anything.

Bolognese Meat Sauce

Yield: 6 generous servings

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 3 hours 30 minutes

Total Time: 4 hours

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Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tbsp butter
• ½ cup chopped onion
• 2/3 cup chopped celery
• 2/3 cup chopped carrot
• 1 lb medium ground beef (or self-groud fresh beef chuck)
• ½ lb ground pork (or self-ground fresh boston butt)
• kosher salt
• pepper
• 1 cup whole milk
• fresh nutmeg (1/8 tsp)
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1½ cups canned Italian plum tomatoes, cut up, with their juice
• ½ tbsp brown sugar (optional, to taste)
• 1 tbsp Italian seasoning (optional, to taste)
• pasta (to serve)
• fresh grated parmigiano-reggiano (to serve)

Instructions

1. Put the oil, butter, and chopped onion in a large, heavy bottom pot (enameled cast iron is great for this), and turn the heat on to medium. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onion has become clear (but not gained any colour). Add the celery and carrot, and cook for about 2 more minutes.
3. Add the ground beef and pork, along with a generous pinch of kosher salt. Crumble the meat, stirring frequently, until the meat is cooked and has lost all of its raw, red colour.
5. Add the milk, and turn the heat to medium low, letting it simmer until it has completely bubbled away. Add a tiny grating of nutmeg, no more than 1/8 tsp. Stir.
7. Add the wine, and let it simmer until it's evaporated. Add the tomatoes and stir well to ensure everything is coated. When the mixture begins to bubble, turn to the lowest simmer, so that just the odd bubble breaks the surface.
9. Cook, uncovered, for at least three hours, stirring from time to time. If the sauce seems to dry out, and the fat separates from the meat, add ½ cup of water. At the end though, boil off the excess water.
11. Check for seasoning, and add the brown sugar and Italian seasoning if using. Toss with freshly cooked pasta, and top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Notes

This freezes well, and I recommend doubling or tripling the recipe and freezing in portions for some easy dinners.

Follow the order of cooking. The salt with the raw meat helps to extract the juices, milk before wine and tomatoes stops it from tasting acidic.

Also, don't use a super lean beef. You need the fat in this dish to make it taste nice and sweet.

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