sunday bolognese (happy birthday to me)
Happy Birthday, to me!
Well, yesterday at least.
As much as I adore going out to eat (which I did plenty of during my little vacation home), cooking one of my favorite things for my own birthday sounded just as satisfying, so that’s exactly what I did. Few things please me more than big ol’ bowl of pasta with really really good sauce, and that’s what this is. One of the best damn bolognese I’ve ever tasted (if I do say so myself).
This sauce is called Sunday Bolognese because it’s an all day, hover-over-your-stove affair. Once you kick things into gear, you better be ready to stir the sauce every 20 minutes for over 3 hours, and that doesn’t include the 90 minutes of prep and pre-cooking before that. To some, that’s a horrible way to spend your birthday. To me, it was perfect. I coddled and loved this sauce into perfection, and was so proud to present it in front of 6 guests at a lovely dinner outside on our patio, it was like a birthday gift to myself. Thick and velvety and just so layered with flavor and texture, it’s just damn good.
Serve it with some great garlic bread and if you’re really lucky, finish with some fabulous birthday hummingbird cake. (I was very, very lucky).
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Sunday Bolognese
My version of bolognese is based on Lidia Bastianich’s two Sunday bolognese – combining her two varieties ricetta tradizionale and ricetta antica – made with broth and milk respectively. I use part milk and part broth with a heavy tomato-paste base and some canned tomatoes to get a nice balance of richness and flavor. Also, this recipe makes a ton of sauce, but all you have to do is refrigerate it, scrape off the fat, and freeze it for future use. Deeeeeelish!
Makes 3 quarts sauce, well suited for 2-3 lbs of pasta.
Based on the recipe from Lidia’s Family Table.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs ground beef
- 2 lbs ground pork
- 2 cups dry red wine
- 6 oz. pancetta, chopped
- 5 large garlic cloves
- 2 Tbsp. olive oil
- 2 medium onions, peeled and quartered
- 2 celery stalks, chopped
- 1 carrot, peeled, chopped
- 1 tsp. kosher salt
- 6 Tbsp. tomato paste
- 6 cups whole milk, divided, warmed
- ½ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
- 2 large dry bay leaves
- 2 cups crushed tomatoes
- 2 cups low-sodium beef broth, warmed
- 1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
- 2 lbs. rigatoni pasta, cooked
Directions
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the beef, pork, and red wine. Using your hands, gently mix everything together, evenly coating the meat.
- In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the onion, carrot, and celery until very finely minced. Remove from processor, set aside, and wash out the bowl.
- Place pancetta in food processor with peeled garlic. Process into a fine paste. In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium-high heat and scrape in the pancetta-garlic mixture. Get it nice and sizzling for a few minutes and then add the onion, carrot, and celery. Cook until golden and soft, about 5 minutes.
- Push the vegetables to the sides of the pot and add the meat mixture. Break it up with a wooden fork or spoon and get it browning. After a few minutes, stir the veggies back in. Cook on high heat, stirring frequently, for about 30-45 minutes, until all all of the liquid has been absorbed, and stir in the salt.
- Make a well in the center of the pot and add the tomato paste. Stir around and get it browning a bit. Pour in 2 cups of warmed milk and stir into the meat mixture, making sure to scrape any brown bits off the bottom of your pan. Add nutmeg and bay leaves and taste for seasoning.
- In a smaller saucepan, combine 4 cups milk and the beef broth. Heat until simmering and then turn down to the lowest setting you have. Keep warm.
- Bring the sauce to a slow, steady simmer, consistently bubbling away on all surface area. Cover and let cook. After the first 20 minutes, stir in the tomatoes.
- Stir every 20 minutes for at least the next 3 hours. You really have to watch the liquid level – if the sauce is reducing too quickly, turn down the heat. If it’s not absorbing liquid at all, turn it up. You want to use the milk-broth and let it absorb the liquids – expect to add some of the milk-broth mixture every time you stir the sauce. This is how the meat is going to tenderize and melt into velvety goodness. Don’t freak out if the flavor doesn’t really seem to develop until the last hour of cooking – it’s just the nature of the beast.
- To finish the sauce, uncover and allow sauce to simmer itself into a thicker, pudding-like consistency. The liquid should all be absorbed and if it hasn’t by now, take it off the heat and cook off the moisture quickly. Once ready, stir in pepper, let cook for 5 minutes, and taste for seasoning. Fish out the bay leaves and discard. Serve hot over prepared rigatoni pasta with garlic bread and a nice salad.
- 2lbs ground beef
- 2lbs ground pork
- 2 cups dry red or white wine (whatever you have)
- 6 ounces pancetta (or regular bacon in a pinch)
- 5 large garlic cloves
- 2T. olive oil
- 2 medium onions, minced (food processor preferable)
- 2 celery stalks, minced (food processor preferable)
- 1 carrot, shredded or minced in food processor with celery
- 1/2t. salt or to taste
- 6T. tomato paste
- 2 cups of milk (heated at time of use)
- 1/2t. nutmeg or to taste
- 2 large bay leaves
- 2 cups of broth (beef, chicken, or veg. I prefer low sodium to control the salt) Heated.
- Freshly ground pepper
