The Best Bolognese Sauce

Marcella Hazan. All the best Italian recipes come from this lady. So much emphasis on real, fresh ingredients! I love it! The very first sauce of hers that I made was her Tomato, Butter and Onion Sauce. I hesitated to try it for a long time because there were so few ingredients, I didn’t think it would be worth it. Wrong! Wrong! It’s the best thing ever. When I told my husband I was thinking of making Marcella’s Bolognese sauce, he looked me straight in the eye and said “That lady has another sauce recipe out there that we haven’t tried yet?! Of course you should make it!” So this is a take on another take of Marcella’s famous Bolognese sauce by David Leite. He added pork and veal. If you scroll down to the comments, you can see that Marcella herself approved. I swapped out the pork for more veal because the ground pork I have access to is totally tasteless, changed the order of adding ingredients to something similar to Marcella’s first version of this recipe, and added a healthy dash of allspice to compliment the nutmeg. Let’s get started!

You’ll need:

• 8 tbsp butter, divided
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 lb ground veal
• 1 stalk of celery, minced
• ½ onion chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp ground allspice
• Salt and pepper
• 2 cups dry white wine (I use Pinot Grigio)
• 2 cups milk
• 28oz can of whole San Marzano tomatoes

Prepare your celery, onion and carrots.

In a large pan, add oil, 4 tbsp butter, ground beef, ground veal, nutmeg, allspice, celery, onion, carrots, salt and pepper.

Cook on medium high heat until the onions are translucent and the beef is mostly browned, approximately 15 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add the white wine to the pan and turn the heat down to medium. Nevermind that I’m doing this on top of a filing cabinet to get better lighting 🙂

Cook until all of the wine has evaporated from the pan, approximately 45 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add San Marzano tomatoes, 4 tbsp butter and milk to the pan.

Turn the heat down to medium low.

Let it gently simmer for 3 hours, gently breaking up the tomatoes with a wooden spoon as it cooks.

This is what it looks like after the first hour…

This is what it looks like after the second hour…

The sauce should be very dry, meaning not have a lot of liquid, when it’s done. If you find that it is drying out too quickly, make sure your heat is on medium low and add a half a cup of milk as necessary to prevent the sauce from burning or sticking to the bottom of the pan. When it’s done, you should be left with a really concentrated meat sauce and the oil released from the meat.

This is what it looks like after the third hour, when it’s done:

Because everything has been simmering in milk, there is an unforgettable creaminess to the sauce even though there isn’t much liquid left at the end.

I toss the oil with some hot, fresh fettuccine noodles and then top with a bit of Bolognese…

And maybe an almond flour cheddar bay biscuit 🙂

It’s not necessary to eat it with pasta noodles. This is also really good inside low-carb soft tortillas. I tried to snap a picture of my husband eating it that way, but he was in no mood to be separated from his Bolognese for even a second!

You could also crack a few eggs into the pot for the last few minutes for a kicked up version of Eggs in Purgatory. Or top it with mashed root vegetables and mozzarella cheese for an Italian spin on shepherd’s/cottage pie. This sauce is much more versatile than just an accompaniment to fresh pasta!

The Best Bolognese Sauce

 

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Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

4 hours

Total time

4 hours 5 mins

 

Adaptation of Marcella Hazan’s famous Bolognese sauce featuring tender beef and veal, comforting diced veggies and earthy spices.

Author: Tekesha @ EatMoreFoodProject

Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 8 tbsp butter, divided
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 lb ground veal
• 1 stalk of celery, minced
• ½ onion chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp ground allspice
• Salt and pepper
• 2 cups dry white wine (I use Pinot Grigio)
• 2 cups milk
• 28oz can of whole San Marzano tomatoes

Instructions

1. Prepare your celery, onion and carrots.
2. In a large pan, add oil, 4 tbsp butter, ground beef, ground veal, nutmeg, allspice, celery, onion, carrots, salt and pepper.
3. Cook on medium high heat until the onions are translucent and the beef is mostly browned, approximately 15 minutes, stirring frequently.
4. Add the white wine to the pan and turn the heat down to medium.
5. Cook until all of the wine has evaporated from the pan, approximately 45 minutes, stirring frequently.
6. Add San Marzano tomatoes, 4 tbsp butter and milk to the pan.
7. Turn the heat down to medium low.
8. Let it gently simmer for 3 hours, gently breaking up the tomatoes with a wooden spoon as it cooks.
9. The sauce should be very dry, meaning not have a lot of liquid, when it’s done. If you find that it is drying out too quickly, make sure your heat is on medium low and add a half a cup of milk as necessary to prevent the sauce from burning or sticking to the bottom of the pan. When it’s done, you should be left with a really concentrated meat sauce and the oil released from the meat.

Notes

Nutrition information provided is for the bolognese sauce alone.

Nutrition Information

Calories: 439 Fat: 22.4 Saturated fat: 11.4 Trans fat: 0 Carbohydrates: 12.8 Sugar: 8.8 Sodium: 233 Fiber: 2.9 Protein: 34.5 Cholesterol: 145

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