Eric is a huge fan of pasta and often makes his own. His favorite sauce to put on it is bolognese sauce and the one he prefers comes from Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. This slow cooked meat sauce starts with lightly sautéed onions, celery, and carrots. A mix of ground beef and ground pork is simmered in milk then white wine, before the tomatoes are added. And then it simmers even more. After reading about and researching bolognese, Eric found Marcella Hazan’s recipe on the New York Times Cooking website. He liked it so much (as did the guests that we served it to along with his homemade pasta) that Eric bought the cookbook.

When I decided to post this recipe, I went back to the NY Times website for the recipe. It is much easier and quicker to copy the recipe from the digital version then to type it all into a post. As I often do when there are recipe reviews, I read through some of them. I do this to see what worked and what didn’t and to get inspiration on variations for a particular dish. If many reviews are negative, I may decide not to try a recipe at all, but those types of reviews have to be read with a grain of salt. Often, if you read past the first line, you find that the negative reviewer changed a bunch of ingredients or the procedure, causing the recipe to fail. At first glance, I thought that was the direction one particular review for the bolognese sauce was headed. But Kim’s excuse for not being able to rate the recipe took an unexpected twist that made me laugh-out-loud. Here’s the humorous review she wrote in 2019:

“I cannot comment of the taste of the sauce. It was cooling and I ran a short errand. In the meantime, my 8 year old Labrador Retriever, Jake, (who had never, ever bothered anything in the kitchen) somehow got the pot off of the cooktop and ate all of the sauce. The worst part was that I had tripled the recipe, so Jake ate 3 pounds of Bolognese sauce! I am certain he would rate the sauce a 5. We had to go out for dinner, but I will make the recipe again and post relevant feedback! PS: Jake is fine.” Posted by Kim on cooking.nytimes.com

We agree with Jake!

Bolognese Sauce (adapted from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan via cooking.nytimes.com) Time Required: at least 4 hours, Makes: 2 heaping cups, enough for about 6 servings over 1-1/2 pounds of pasta

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 2/3 cup chopped celery
• 2/3 cup chopped carrot
• 1/4 pound pork
• 1/2 pound ground beef chuck
• salt & freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup milk
• whole nutmeg
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1-1/2 cups canned imported Italian plum tomatoes, cut up, with their juice
• pasta, rice, or risotto for serving
• freshly grated Parmesan cheese, for serving

Preparation:

Put the oil, butter, and chopped onion in the pot and set it over medium heat. Cook and stir the onion until it has become translucent.

Add the chopped celery and carrot to the pot. Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring the vegetables to coat them well.

Add the ground meats, a large pinch of salt, and a few grinds of pepper. Crumble the meat and stir well, cooking just until the beef and pork have lost their raw, red color.

Add the milk and let it all simmer gently, stirring frequently, until the milk has bubbled away completely. Add about 1/8 teaspoon of freshly ground nutmeg and stir.

Add the wine, letting it simmer until it has evaporated.

Add the tomatoes and stir thoroughly to coat all the ingredients well.

When the tomatoes begin to bubble, turn the heat down so that the sauce cooks, just barely at a simmer, and intermittent bubbles just break through to the surface. Continue to cook, uncovered, for 3 hours or more, stirring from time to time. While the sauce is cooking, it may begin to dry out and the fat may separate from the meat. To keep it the sauce from sticking, add 1/2 cup of water whenever necessary.

At the end of the three hours, all of the water must be evaporated and the fat must separate from the sauce. Taste the sauce and add additional salt if it is needed. Serve the sauce over cooked pasta, rice, or risotto with freshly grated Parmesan on the side.

Slow cooked and delicious!  ~Linda

Bolognese Sauce (adapted from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan via cooking.nytimes.com) Time Required: at least 4 hours, Makes: 2 heaping cups, enough for about 6 servings over 1-1/2 pounds of pasta

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 2/3 cup chopped celery
• 2/3 cup chopped carrot
• 1/4 pound pork
• 1/2 pound ground beef chuck
• salt & freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup milk
• whole nutmeg
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1-1/2 cups canned imported Italian plum tomatoes, cut up, with their juice
• pasta, rice, or risotto for serving
• freshly grated Parmesan cheese, for serving

Preparation:

Put the oil, butter, and chopped onion in the pot and set it over medium heat. Cook and stir the onion until it has become translucent.

Add the chopped celery and carrot. Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring the vegetables to coat them well.

Add the ground meats, a large pinch of salt, and a few grinds of pepper. Crumble the meat and stir well, cooking just until the beef and pork have lost their raw, red color.

Add the milk and let it all simmer gently, stirring frequently, until the milk has bubbled away completely. Add about 1/8 teaspoon of freshly ground nutmeg and stir.

Add the wine, letting it simmer until it has evaporated, then add the tomatoes and stir thoroughly to coat all the ingredients well. When the tomatoes begin to bubble, turn the heat down so that the sauce cooks, just barely at a simmer, and intermittent bubbles just break through to the surface. Continue to cook, uncovered, for 3 hours or more, stirring from time to time. While the sauce is cooking, it may begin to dry out and the fat may separate from the meat. To keep it the sauce from sticking, add 1/2 cup of water whenever necessary. At the end of the three hours, all of the water must be evaporated and the fat must separate from the sauce. Taste the sauce and add additional  salt if it is needed.

Serve the sauce over cooked pasta, rice, or risotto with freshly grated Parmesan on the side.