Bolognese Sauce (Ragù alla Bolognese)

Bolognese is perhaps what is familiar to most (outside of Italy) as spaghetti sauce, albeit it’s quite often in a ~bastardized~ different form than the traditional recipe.

Customarily, it is a meat-based sauce (a ragù) made with the typical trio of onion, celery and carrot, one or a combination of minced meat (usually beef, veal or pork), wine, a small amount of tomato paste with minimal seasoning and herbage. Sometimes a little cream is added for smoothness.

My bolognese recipe and method is pretty near the traditional way.

Ingredients

• ~1 tablespoon butter
• ~1 tablespoon olive oil
• 200g pancetta or bacon, diced
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 carrot, finely chopped
• 1 celery stalk, finely chopped
• 500g beef, ground
• 500g pork, ground
• 1/8th teaspoon ground nutmeg
• kosher salt & pepper, to taste
• 150 ml tomato paste/concentrate
• 500 ml chicken stock
• 125 ml white wine
• 1 bay leaf
• 250 ml cream

Directions

• Melt the butter and combine with the olive oil in a deep saucepan or stockpot.
• Add the bacon (or pancetta) and cook until most of the fat is rendered out and it has begun to crisp.
• Add the carrot, onion and celery and sauté until the onion has turned slightly translucent. 5 to 7 minutes.
• Next, add the ground meats and cook until nicely browned –another 7-10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and add the nutmeg.
• Add the tomato paste and thoroughly combine and cook for a few minutes to allow it to caramelize.
• Pour on the stock and wine, toss in the bay leaf and bring to a boil.
• Simmer (uncovered) until the liquid has been reduced down below the meat.
• Before serving, stir in the cream and taste to see if it needs further seasoning. Serve in pasta and garnish with Parmesan cheese if desired.