Bolognese Sauce Recipe

G. Stephen Jones • January 3, 2013 • 0 Comments

A Great Meat Sauce with Pasta Recipe

I love Bolognese Sauce when the weather drops below 40 degrees like it has here in Philadelphia. Normally I serve it with penne but I recently ordered a case of pappardelle pasta from Amazon and my wife thought it would be a good idea to make some room in the pantry.

Bolognese is a meat based ragú sauce originally from Bologna, Italy. It is thought to have originated sometime during the late 18th century and was served with a tagliatelle pasta which looks like a wider fettuccine.

For a long time now, every chef has there own variation of how Bolognese should be made. I’ve seen variations using different types of meats, numerous meat ratios and different herbs and spices. In fact, some say the classic Bolognese Ragú from the Accademia Italiana della Cucina is the most authentic and it does not have any garlic like this one does. I’ll post this official version after I try it.

I have another version for Bolognese Sauce here but I really like this version using shredded carrots the addition of Worcestershire sauce and a little garlic. I guess what I’m suggesting is you can make your own version and it can be yours.

Carrots for Bolognese Sauce

Cooking the shredded carrots.

Adding the tomato paste

Adding the tomato paste to the bolognese sauce

Bolognese Sauce

Ingredients

½ cup olive oil

1 large onion, chopped fine

3 – 4 large carrots shredded

3 large cloves garlic, minced

2 ½ pounds ground meat (beef, veal & pork mixture)

6 ounces tomato paste

½ cup red wine

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

3 cans (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes

1-cup milk

1 tablespoon fresh thyme, finely minced

1 tablespoon fresh sage, finely minced

2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely minced

2 tablespoons fresh basil, finely minced

Salt & Pepper - to taste

Freshly grated Parmesan Cheese

How To Prepare At Home

Heat up a large fry pan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the oil and when hot, add the onions, carrots and garlic. Sauté until the onions soften up, about 5 minutes.

Push the onion, carrots and garlic to the sides of the pot and add the ground meat and cook until brown. Mix the browned meat with the other ingredients by stirring them all together with a wooden spoon. Does it have to be wooden? No, but I like cooking with wooden utensils

Again, push the meat and carrots to the sides of the pot and add the tomato paste. It should soften up a little with the heat of the pan and then you can combine it with the rest of the ingredients.

Add the wine and Worcestershire sauce and stir to combine with everything else. Add the diced tomatoes, stir, then the milk, stir, then the finely minced herbs and stir to combine.

Season with salt and pepper, lower the heat and simmer for at least one hour but two would be better. I wasn’t sure if it would cook better with or without the lid on my Dutch oven so I partially covered it and it turned out fine.

Serve over some penne or pappardelle pasta with some freshly grated Parmesan cheese over the top.

This is excellent to serve after you prepare it but even better the next day.