Four bolognese recipes and five years since my trip to Italy and I finally have THE bolognese recipe. It was the thing I have tried to replicate over and over since I got back and it was sometimes good, sometimes very good but never right. I can’t believe I didn’t try Marcella’s recipe first, for shame. Now I know. This is my slightly modified version (as in, I didn’t measure anything).
(serves 4)
Adapted from the Classic Italian Cookbook
1T vegetable oil
4T butter
1 small onion, chopped
2 medium carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
500 g ground beef chuck
salt
pepper
1C 2% milk
nutmeg
1C white wine
1 1/2C canned tomatoes, broken into pieces, with juice
pasta, cooked and drained
Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, freshly grated
fresh parsley, minced
1. Put oil, 3T butter and onion in a heavy pot and turn heat to medium. Cook, stirring until it has become translucent, then add the celery and carrot. Cook and stir for about 2 minutes.
2. Add ground beef, a large pinch of salt and a few grindings of pepper. Crumble meat with a fork and continue stirring until beef has lost its raw color.
3. Add milk and let simmer gently, stirring to avoid letting it stick. Add a tiny grating, about 1/8 teaspoon, fresh nutmeg and stir.
4. When milk has all been absorbed. Add wine and let it simmer until it has absorbed. Then add tomatoes and stir thoroughly. When sauce starts to bubble, turn down the heat to low so that only a very occasional bubble breaks the surface.
5. Cook, uncovered, for 3 hours or more, stirring from time to time. At the end the liquid should be completely evaporated but if you find it starts to dry out early add some water or some extra tomato juice and stir it in. Taste and correct for salt.
6. Toss a bit of the sauce with pasta and serve the remaining on top of each bowl oor on a large platter, sprinkle with parsley and freshly grated Parmesan on the side.
Similar Recipes:
Beef Stroganoff
Braised Short Rib Pasta
Linguine with Savoy Cabbage
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
WOW…THE sauce, eh? It sounds very good and when you take 3 hrs. to make a sauce, the end result better be good!
Three hours, wow! But it does look like it was well worth the wait!
You know all the recipes that claim to be authentic take this long – think lamb shanks. It is totally worth it.
Wow. Milk and celery in bolognese sauce? Who knew? Sounds delicious! And just the kind of thing to put on and forget while you go about chores around the house, all the while having great cooking smells fill the air. Red beans and rice used to serve just such a purpose in New Orleans on Mondays, the traditional day for doing laundry.
I have Marcella Hazan’s (I think she’s the Marcella you’re referring too) cookbook and I love the recipes in it- I’ve never had anything not turn out… you post makes me want to go home and make bolognese sauce for dinner (but it’s not quite a weeknight meal).
That bolognese sauce looks good. I have been trying to make a bolognese sauce that is just right for a while now.
That’s a great looking bolognese sauce.