Bolognese Sauce
According to my friend Mike Puma at Gotham Burger Social Club, he claims that the original recipe for bolognese sauce did not contain tomato sauce, but tomato paste. I did not take the time to research it, but as a fellow Italian who probably did, I am going to take his word for it. Even if not, this is a fantastic recipe worthy of trying. It is not hard, and only takes very little patience. Please don’t think this is a recipe you can have prepared within an hour or so. Give it the full time and attention it needs to cook correctly.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 small onion
- 1 celery stalk
- 1 carrot
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
- 1/2 cup dry white wine (optional)
- 2 cups whole milk (lactose free milk will not work here)
- 1 cup beef broth
- 3 bay leaves
METHOD (this is going to take about an hour of prep time, which includes cooking the meat, vegetables, and reducing the sauce 3-4 times, then another 2-3 hours of cooking time, so plan ahead!)
- Cook the beef first, it does not have to be brown throughout, remember, this is going to cook for cook for 2-3 hours.
- Add finely chopped vegetables, cook until softened.
- Add in a tablespoon of butter, stir in, allow to cook another couple minutes.
- Add in 1 can of tomato paste (6 ounce can) and stir until it’s all dissolved and mixed in well.
- Continue to cook for another 5 minutes.
- If you are going to use white wine, now is the time to add it and allow the alcohol to cook off, about 5 minutes.
- Add in 1 cup whole milk, cook until the sauce is reduced.
- Once reduced, add in another cup of whole milk.
- When it reduces again, there should not be a lot of liquid, once it is mostly meat, add in 1 cup of beef broth.
- Allow to cook, uncovered, for at least 2 hours. Take a clean spoon, taste, adjust seasoning (salt) and see if the meat is tender enough to chew.
- Serve over rigatoni or your favorite pasta and save the rest for another dish like leftovers, lasagna, etc.
