This is one of those dishes that can be interpreted lots of ways, all extremely tasty. Like many Australians, Gourmet Jack has made quite a few over the years. And now–drumroll–this is it! The quintessential, state-of-the-art, yet classic Spaggy Bol that helped Jack win Jill’s heart.
Bolognese sauce (ragù bolognese in Italian, also known by its French name sauce bolognaise), is a meat-based sauce for pasta originating in Bologna, Italy. Bolognese sauce is sometimes taken to be a tomato sauce, but authentic recipes have only a small amount of tomato.
The Bolognese delegation of Accademia Italiana della Cucina registered the traditional recipe in 1982 and constrained the ingredients to beef, pancetta, onions, carrots, celery, tomato paste, meat broth, white wine, and milk or cream. However, different recipes, even in the Bolognese tradition, make use of chopped pork or pork sausage, while chicken or goose liver may be added to the beef or veal for special occasions. Today, many use both butter and olive oil for cooking the sofritto of small amounts of celery, carrot and onion. Prosciutto, mortadella, or fresh porcini mushrooms may be added to the ragù to further enrich the sauce. Milk is frequently used in the early stages of cooking to render the meat flavors more “delicate” but cream is very rare in the authentic recipe and only a very little would be used. According to Marcella Hazan in “The Classic Italian Cookbook”, the longer Ragù alla Bolognese cooks the better; a 5-6 hour simmer is ideal.
Time to get crackin’ and put one of these bad boys together.
Serves 6-8. (Works well with double quantities)
Ingredients
¼ cup olive oil
3 garlic cloves chopped
1 small onion chopped
¼ cup minced celery (optional)
¼ cup minced carrot (optional)
½ lb ground beef
½ lb ground pork (veal can be used of pork)
1 tbs each of dried basil, mint, and red pepper flakes
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
½ tsp all spice
1 small can tomato paste
1 cup dry white wine
¾ cup diced dry Italian salami (or salami of your choice)
1 28oz can peeled and ground tomatoes (kitchen ready)
STEP 1 Make the sofritto.
Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy, skillet or pot.
Add the garlic, onion, and optional ingredients if using them.
Cook for 5 minutes till the onion softens and becomes translucent.
STEP 2
Add the beef and pork.
Add the seasonings sauce and all spice.
Brown until the meat is almost a little crisp on the bottom, Stir frequently.
STEP 3
Lower heat and add the tomato paste.
Stir constantly till it’s well blended with the meat.
STEP 4
Add wine and salami.
Cook at medium-high for 3 minutes.
STEP 5
Add can of tomatoes and keep stirring till sauce is bubbly
Lower heat, adjust seasonings to your taste, simmer for 15 minutes–stirring often
STEP 6 SERVE and ENJOY
Serve over spaghetti or any other favorite pasta. Garnish with finely chopped curly or Italian parsley.
Buon Appetito! (or as they might say in Australia “Get your laughing gear round this!”)
Check out Marcella Hazan’s book Classic Italian Cookbook
