bolognese sauce

image via jamieoliver



We had a wonderful Christmas, with family flying in from Minnesota. They were here for five fun days. Unlike lots of you with the snow, we just had rain the whole time. Christmas day it was really lovely and clear though, so we all had a long walk on the Harbor to work off the cookies.
Our family flew out this morning, and since I had a lot to clean up anyway
I took the tree down. The needles were starting to drive my a little nutty.


For our last dinner with the family, we had Bolognese...which is sooooo yummy.
I love Jamie Oliver (great accent/great recipes) and this recipe for Bolognese Sauce is one of my fave's from him. Plus the family loves it. It makes a ton...which in my book is great. I use half the sauce over linguine one night, and then I freeze the other half for another night.


I make a couple of changes to his recipe, but the link for his original recipe is here.


BOLOGNESE SAUCE

4 oz pancetta
2 medium onions
2 cloves of garlic
2 carrots
2 celery stalks
Olive oil
2 heaped teaspoons dried oregano
2 pounds good-quality ground beef, pork or (even better!) a mixture of the two
2 14-ounce cans of diced tomatoes
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Small bunch of fresh basil
4 ounces parmesan cheese
1 pound dried spaghetti or penne


To make your sauce


Finely slice the pancetta. Peel and finely chop the onions, garlic, carrots and celery.


Place a large casserole-type pan on a medium to high heat. Add 2 lugs of olive oil, your sliced pancetta, and the oregano and cook and stir until the pancetta is lightly golden.


Add the vegetables to the pan and stir every 30 seconds for around 7 minutes or until softened and lightly colored. Stir in the ground meat and the canned tomatoes. Stir in a good pinch of salt and pepper.


Pick the basil leaves and place in the refrigerator for later. Finely chop the basil stalks and stir into the pan. Bring to a boil. Turn the heat down and simmer with a lid on for about an hour, stirring every now and then.



Remove the Bolognese sauce from the heat. Finely grate the parmesan and stir half into the sauce. Tear and stir in any larger basil leaves, keeping the smaller ones for sprinkling over before serving.

Mix up, have a taste, and season with a little more salt and pepper if needed. Serve with pasta.