basic bolognese
a substack exclusive
I recently had a friend over for dinner and, in a fit of Alison Roman fantasy, I made a bolognese. It turned out really good, as a bolognese is wont to do. The trick is simple really: give it time.
Sadly, I did not film this for a video. But lucky for you, my clever substack-exclusive audience, I was so freed up from not moving a tripod around every five seconds, I actually wrote down the recipe!
So here it is, nothing groundbreaking, just The Bolognese I Made For a Dinner Guest the Other Night, Which I Served with Garlic Bread and an Arugula and Apricot Salad, met with an unsolicited “best I've ever had.”
Pasta Bolognese (serves 4-6)
3-4 oz pancetta, cubed
1 onion
1 medium carrot
3 stalks celery
1/2 pint or 8 oz. mushrooms (cremini or white button)
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork
1 large or 2 small links sweet Italian sausage (about 5-6 oz.)
1 cup passata
1/2 cup red wine
1/2 cup beef or chicken stock
3/4 cup heavy cream
16 oz. pappardelle
parmesan for serving
Add pancetta to a cold, heavy-bottomed pot or dutch oven. Set the heat to medium and allow the pancetta to slowly render, stirring often.
Meanwhile, blitz the onion, carrot, celery, and mushrooms in a food processor until very finely chopped. You can also just finely chop these by hand, but a food processor is so much faster! Set aside.
Once the pancetta fat has rendered and the pancetta has browned, add in the butter and olive oil followed by the recently blitzed veggies. Cook, stirring often. You want to cook until the water in the veggies has been driven off but not until they are browning. You will hear the sounds of the pan change from a soft, steaming sound to a faster, crackling frying sound. This is, in general, a good cue in the kitchen that your veggies are making that special, flavor-enhancing contact with all that butter, oil, and pancetta fat.
At this point, add in the beef, pork, and de-cased Italian sausage. Use a sturdy wooden spoon to break everything up into fine pieces. Cook, stirring, until the meat is no longer pink. I’m not looking for any browning on the vegetables or ground meat/sausage. That rich, roasted flavor is coming from the fried pancetta.
Add in the passata, red wine, and stock. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Let cook for at least an hour, stirring occasionally, but this will basically only get better as it cooks. 2-3 hours is probably ideal, mine was probably closer to an hour and a half. Add the heavy cream about 20 minutes before serving and let it simmer the rest of the way.
Meanwhile, boil your pappardelle according to package instructions. Drain, reserving a little pasta water. Return to the pot and toss with as much or as little of the bolognese sauce as you’d like. It might be smart to make more sauce than you need, or boil less pasta than this recipe calls for, as you’ll be glad to have a deli container of this stuff in your freezer.
Serve with freshly grated parmesan, fresh cracked black pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil to garnish.