Not Your Mama’s Bolognese Sauce
Of all the foods I love to eat, pasta is among my favorites (if not THE favorite). Pasta is so diverse. You can eat linguine, fettuccine, ravioli, pappardelle, etc., and best of all can be paired with so many different sauces. I have always loved when my mom would make bolognese sauce (especially when used in a lasagna). (I don't know about you, but my mom did not use pancetta in her bolognese sauce or make a soffritto, hence the name.) Over the years I have tried different ingredients to make a hearty bolognese sauce. Recently a lot of the ones I have come across use pancetta. I have used pancetta before as the protein in my carbonara but never for bolognese. After years of denying myself this delicious addition, I finally gave in and I have to say it's the best sauce I've made thus far!
Fun fact: a year ago my husband and I took the 23andMe test and recently my results were updated to say that I was 0.2% Italian! I knew my love for pasta and Italian dishes came from somewhere 😉. Yes I know, 0.2% is basically nothing, but I think it's pretty cool. Sometimes you think you know everything about yourself and then life surprises you.
I used a blend of two recipes and for the first time ever, had to make a soffritto (a mixture of slowly cooked carrots, onions and celery, used as a base to add flavor to sauces, soups and stews). I also blitzed the pancetta and roasted tomatoes separately. I'll list the directions for that below.
If you want to learn more about soffritto, this is a great read: https://food52.com/blog/13078-soffritto-a-not-so-secret-secret-ingredient.
Ingredients for sauce:
1 Tablespoons Butter
1 Tablespoon Olive oil
2 Carrots blitzed
2 Celery blitzed
1 yellow onion blitzed
4 cloves of garlic blitzed
1 lb ground beef (80/20)
Quarter of a lb of Pancetta
28 oz crushed tomatoes
2 15 oz tomato sauce
2 tbsp of tomato paste
1/4 cup milk
2 tbsp of red wine
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper to taste
Gruyere cheese for serving
Directions for the soffritto:
Cut up onions, carrots, celery and blitz in blender or food processor (I did each separately due to the smaller size of my food processor )
Repeat the same with the garlic cloves
After putting oil and butter in the pot, throw in the soffritto mixture (onion, carrots, celery garlic)
Directions for the sauce:
In a large sized pot, over medium high heat, add the butter and oil. Once melted, add the carrots, celery, and onion.
Saute, stirring occasionally until tender, about 5 minutes.
Add the garlic and cook for another minute.
Add the ground beef and stir for a minute or two.
Add pancetta and stir.
Once the meats are browned, start adding all other ingredients.
Stir to combine and simmer for 2-3 hours or up to an entire afternoon.
In the meantime, boil a pot of water (with a spritz of veg oil and salt) and cook fresh pappardelle pasta for 3-4 min (or your choice of pasta) .
Remove the bay leaves and serve with fresh pasta and fresh gruyere cheese.
