Order bolognese when you see it on the menu. Trust me, it's life-changing. Given my opinion on bolognese in Rome, you can imagine my surprise when I saw that Table + Teaspoon (a cooking blog I'd all but given up on ever posting again) recently wrote about a favorite food memory from Rome all the way back in 2005 that involved not only a restaurant (Cul-de-Sac) that I went to last weekend but also bolognese sauce! I've been searching all over the web for a good recipe to bring home, and while it seems a bit labor intensive, I can't wait to try it out for the holidays!
Ingredients
· 3 pounds ground beef (15% fat content)
· 1 pound ground pork
· 2 cups dry white wine
· 2 cups dry red wine (I used a 2005 Pago de Larrainzar Navarra)
· 6 ounces pancetta
· 6 garlic cloves
· 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
· ½ teaspoon salt (more to taste)
· 2 medium yellow onions
· 2 large stalks celery
· 1 carrot
· 12 ounces tomato paste
· 2 cups broth (or substitute water)
· 8 cups whole milk
· Fresh ground pepper
· Fresh ground nutmeg
Instructions
· Put ground meat into large mixing bowl
· Crumble and loosen using your fingers
· Pour white wine over the meat, and incorporate so that meat is evenly moisturized
· Chop onions, carrots, and celery
· Peel garlic and dice
· Chop pancetta
· Combine pancetta and garlic in a food processor, and process into a fine paste (this is called a “pestata”)
· Heat olive oil in a 10-12-inch diameter heavy bottomed sauce pot, or a 5-quart Dutch Oven
· Over medium-high heat, add pestata, stirring frequently to foster the fat rendering process
· Cook for about three minutes, until the garlic and pancetta are sizzling and a good amount of fat has pooled in the pan
· Add onions, and cook until they start to become slightly translucent
· Add carrots and celery, stir while cooking for about five minutes
· Push vegetables to the side, and add meat to the pan
· Sprinkle salt over the meat
· Give meat a few minutes to brown, and then stir/spread/toss and mix with vegetables until all of the meat browns
· When the meat has emitted a great deal of fat, turn the heat up to high and stir often until the liquid dissipates (this will take about 45 minutes – DO NOT let the meat burn, lower heat if necessary)
· In sauce pans, heat up the milk and broth/water
· Once the meat has been de-liquefied, make a small circle in the middle of the meat, and add the tomato paste so that it may brown for a minute, then stir into the meat
· Add two cups hot milk to meat, and stir
· Grate two tablespoons (about half) of a nutmeg into the meat
· Add red wine, and incorporate completely
· From this point, the Bolognese will take three hours to complete
· Add one cup of milk every twenty minutes
· If the liquid is evaporating too quickly, or you run out of milk add broth
· If the liquid isn’t evaporating quickly enough, turn up heat – but make sure to stir frequently so that portions of the sauce do not stick to the bottom of the pan
· Salt to taste
· Serve over your favorite fresh pasta, and freeze extra sauce for up to three months, buon appetito!
Kate Spade iPhone cover
Serendipity Gold Sundae
Serendipity Gold Sundae
