bolognesesauce

Bolognese Sauce

My grandparents didn't’ talk about the names of most of the dishes they cooked, they just cooked them. This was basically a red meat sauce cousin of a basic marinara sauce. This and many recipes bases call for pancetta. No problem there, because fresh slabs were always available to us, especially since we lived in the Little Italy section and my oldest aunt owned the corner Italian grocery store. This classic Italian pasta sauce takes a little time, but it is well worth the time investment.
Instead of using all ground beef chuck, pork and even ground turkey can be used.

Ingredients

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium onion, finely diced
1 medium carrot, finely diced
1 rib celery, finely diced
¼ cup, finely diced pancetta
1 lb ground beef chuck.
Pinch of sea or kosher salt
Pinch of freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 cups cans diced plum tomatoes
1 cup milk
½ dry or table white or red wine

In a large saucepan, heat the oil and butter over medium heat. Add the pancetta and
cook between 5 and 10 minutes. Add the onion, carrot, and celery and stir until they
are softened, but not browned. Now add the meat, salt and pepper and stir until the
meat is no longer pink. Also make sure that the meat does not form one big ball. When
the meat is cooked, stir in the tomato paste and milk and gently simmer until it is
evaporated. Now add the wine and simmer until it is also evaporated.

With these steps are completed, add the tomatoes and simmer over low heat. High heat
will make the tomatoes turn bitter. To finish, simmer with the lid partially covered and stir occasionally. If the sauce becomes too thick, add ½ of water and continue to stir.

The wine that was used was usually what was available. Don’t over power this sauce
with a highly astringent red wine. A dry white or red, and even a semi-sweet red table
wine will do fine.