Ever since we had John’s Baked Ziti a few weeks ago, I’ve been jonesing for pasta. I didn’t need anything particularly cheesy, but I really wanted the richness and comfort of some meaty noodles. Meaty. Noodles.
I had always wanted to try to make a ragu/ragout style meat sauce, and started checking around for ideas and recipes involving bolognese. “Authentic” Italian bolognese isn’t a tomatoey marinara spaghetti sauce with meat, like most of us grew up on. It’s really focused on the meat, and has a base of fresh caramelized veggies. The more recipes and pictures I perused, the more clear it became that I had to make pasta with bolognese sauce.
I had two pounds of ground pork from Double R Farms and our pork CSA share, and I thought the richness of the pork would work great for this type of meat sauce. I yanked it from the freezer and gathered my ingredients, and reviewed what I thought was the best recipe of the multitudes. I chose to follow along with the recipe from Food Nouveau, but I made some little changes here and there.
Instead of cooking my veggies in a combination of olive oil and butter, I sweated them in some homemade pastured lard.
I like my sauces a little spicy, so when I was starting the slow-cooking-simmer phase of the process, I added a teaspoon of red pepper flakes and it added a very nice, subtle kick to the end product!
I did not add pancetta to the sauce, because: (1) I was using ground pork, and knew there would be fat rendered from the pork; (2) Pancetta is cured but not smoked, so I didn’t think I would be missing any major flavor profile by leaving it out; (3) I was using my lard to cook with so that would be nearly equivalent to the pork fat from the pancetta; and (4) I didn’t have pancetta anyway. 🙂
By the time the scrumptious sauce was done simmering, the whole house smelled savory and amazing, and I couldn’t wait to get it in a bowl and then into my belly. John practically dove into the pot of sauce and I don’t think I’ve seen him have thirds of something in a long time. I’d say that’s a success!
Rather than go into the whole process twice, you’ll find pictures and detailed steps in the printable recipe below. I’ll share some food porn here, though:
The beginning.
The middle.
The end.
Mmmmmmmmmm! I tell you what, we’ve done real well with this one! Go! Try! Do!
| Servings | Prep Time |
| 6 Cups (approx) | 20 Minutes |
| Cook Time |
| 4.5 Hours |
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A rich and delicious, slow-cooked meat sauce for pasta -- this is not a tomato-based meat sauce like many of us are used to. I personally think this one is much better than a typical "spaghetti sauce" with meat. I hope you'll try it!
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- 2 Pounds Ground meat (Pork, veal, beef, lamb, or a mixture of your favorites)
- 2 Ea Carrots (large) Or 4 medium to small
- 3 Ea Ribs of celery Or 4 small
- 1 Ea Onion, yellow Large, or 2 small
- 4-6 Cloves fresh garlic Depending on taste
- 1 28 oz can diced tomatoes Organic tastes best
- 8 Oz Dry white wine
- 1 Cup Beef broth
- 2 Cups Whole milk
- 2 Tbsp Butter
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- By hand or in a food chopper, finely chop carrots, celery and onions into uniform pieces. Very finely chop garlic. Chopping these vegetables well will greatly improve the finished texture of the sauce, as the vegetables will cook down and melt into the sauce. This vegetable mixture is known in Italian cookery as a sofrito.
- In a large, heavy Dutch oven, over medium heat melt butter and olive oil together. When the fat is hot, add the chopped vegetables and garlic to the pot. Sprinkle generously with a big pinch of salt and some grinds of black pepper, and stirring frequently, start to sweat the vegetables.
- Cook vegetables over medium heat until celery and onions become translucent. Do not brown the vegetables at this point.
- When vegetables are translucent, turn heat to high and begin adding ground meat, no more than one half pound at a time (1/4 of the meat at a time) . This will allow the meat to start to brown, without giving up all it's juices and essentially boiling. Break up the meat in each batch and when the meat is cooked and there's no more raw pink meat, mix it into the vegetables, clear space on the bottom of the pot and add another 1/4. Do this until all the ground meat is cooked and mixed into the vegetables.
- On medium to high heat, let the meat and vegetables begin to brown in the pot. We want the meat to brown, the vegetables to caramelize, and a layer of brown crust to begin sticking to the bottom of the pan. I do this by leaving the mixture alone and not stirring it so things start to sear to the bottom of the pan. Every five minutes or so, I stir the mixture a little and check the bottom of the pan. The browned bits of caramelization are going to be an important flavor component of the sauce, so please do not skip this step.
- Gather liquid components while your mixture browns.
- Turn heat to medium and pull pan off heat for a moment. Add the white wine to the pan and scrape the bottom of the pan, deglazing with the wine and getting all the brown bits off the bottom. The wine will be almost evaporated/absorbed during this process but the bottom of the pan will be clean.
- Add beef broth, milk, and canned diced tomatoes (including their liquid) to the pan and move it back over medium heat.
- Patience starts here! Bring the liquid to a boil and then reduce to a very, very low simmer. Stir very occasionally, maybe every half hour. Leave the pot half-covered so evaporation can happen. The bolognese sauce liquid will reduce slowly over time and become richer and richer. Taste after about two hours for salt and pepper seasoning. Add, if needed. Total cooking time will be about four hours from when it is brought to a low simmer. Eventually, the sauce will be rich, thick, an orangey-brown, and very heavy on the meat. Also, completely amazingly delicious!
- Prepare your favorite pasta according to package directions (favorites for this type of sauce are traditionally spaghetti, pappardelle, rigatoni, ziti, and linguine), and toss warm, al dente pasta with completed bolognese sauce. Top with grated parmesan cheese if desired.
For more pictures of the process, visit the blog at www.saltysassy.com.
Mangia!