Bolognese Sauce…

Let’s face it. Pasta is boring. The only function it really performs is to be a vehicle for sauce. Following that reasoning, the better your sauce, the better your experience. Tonight, we made a simple Bolognese. We used a recipe that didn’t contain any dairy, so it would last longer in the fridge.

Like many good recipes, this one starts with bacon.

In this case, cut up about 4 strips of bacon.. you’re looking for strips that are 1/2” wide or so….Next up, we have more familiar ingredients…. 2 cloves of garlic, and 1 medium onion.

We have plenty of pictures of chopping onions and garlic… so let’s fast-forward…

You’re going for a nice, fine chop…. minced if you’re counting….

Next step, onion, meet bacon…. toss the onion and garlic into a pan with the bacon and about 2 TBSP of Olive Oil.

While this is cooking… and the bacon is getting a little crispy… you’ve got some other stuff to chop… so, let’s talk about this for a second… We cook a lot.. so we have to chop a lot…. if it’s a julienne or other precise cut… you’ve got to do that… but… if it’s just “chop” or “finely chop”… they make a tool for that…

I won’t mention brand names, as companies seem to Google their names to see where their products are mentioned… but.. you can see above… this thing, while it has ridiculous name and commercial, works like a champ. Put stuff in, hit the handle a few times…. get chopped stuff out… that said.. go to your nearest place that sells “As seen on TV” stuff… pick one up.

So… chop about a half a cup’s worth of carrots, and another half a cup of celery. Also, get a half pound of sliced mushrooms down to a reasonable size… You don’t want to have a sauce that leaves you with a mouthful of just a single mushroom… so, break them in half or whatever it takes…

Now your onions should be starting to get translucent… your garlic should be starting to brown… and your bacon should be getting crispy…

If that’s all good… pull the pan off of the heat and put it to the side for a little while…

Get another pan on the heat and toss in a pound of 93/7 Lean Ground Beef and a half-pound of ground pork.

Do the brown-ing thing… chop it up, push it around… chop it and push it some more… after a while it’ll be chopped up and browned…. like some sort of crazy kitchen magic.

While you’re waiting, open a few cans and dump them into a bowl with your veggies….

You want 6-8oz of tomato sauce, 1/2 cup of chicken stock, and a 28oz can of whole plum tomatoes… grab the tomatoes and crush them with your hands… be prepared for them to squirt all over the place.

Sauce…

Maters….

1/2 Cup Broth / Stock

1/2 Cup Dry White wine…. …. now, go check on your beef.

Drain off the extra fat and get ready to add everything else into the pan with the meat…

So… now you’re down to one pot with everything in it.. the meats, the onions / garlic / bacon… all of the liquids and tomatoes and whatnot….

Toss in some salt and pepper and oregano and basil….

Stir it around… get it all infused and entwined and whatnot… then put the burner on simmer, put a lid on it and let it chill for about an hour… give it a stir every 15 minutes or so….

And it’ll be all wonderful after about an hour…. now, it’s time to go ahead and get the vehicle ready… so, cook up your pasta … really, whatever kind you like… this sauce can go on anything… if you’re feeling really lazy after all of this, you can just put the sauce on a few pieces of bread and chow down. …  We went for some multi-colored rotini.

mmmmmm let’s see that a little bit closer….

And there you go… that’s the sauce this week… we took the extra and put it in mason jars and tossed it in the fridge… it should keep for a week or two…. since it’s all mainly acidic…