Pasta Bolognese

A dear friend of ours just left to live in Tuscany for several months, and to say I am a little jealous would be an understatement. Over the years, much of my food and wine obsessions have been centered around Italy. With la cucina italiana on my mind, I found myself craving a comforting bowl of pasta Bolognese, the famous meat sauce from the region north of Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna. Here, ground beef is slowly cooked with aromatics, tomato paste, and stock, until it is delicately tender. A perfect dish for these cold, dark nights.

Ingredients:

1 medium yellow onion, coarsely chopped

1 celery stalk, coarsely chopped

1 carrot, peeled and coarsely chopped

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 pound ground beef, 80% lean

Kosher salt

3 ounces pancetta, finely chopped (see notes)

1 cup dry white wine, such as Pinot Grigio

⅓ cup tomato paste

2 bay leaves

Pinch of ground nutmeg

2 cups (plus more) chicken stock

1 cup whole milk

1 pound fresh or dry pasta (see notes)

½ cup finely grated Parmesan, plus more for serving

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Directions:

In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the onion, celery, and carrot until very finely chopped. Set aside.

In a Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the beef, breaking it up into 1-inch pieces. Season with salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the beef is lightly browned, about 6 to 8 minutes. Don't break up the meat too small yet, and don't over brown or crisp it. It's okay if the beef still has a little pink in the center. Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to a bowl.

Drain excess grease from pan and wipe out with a paper towel. Return pot to medium heat, and cook the pancetta, until it has crisped up and rendered out some fat, about 6 to 8 minutes. Add the onion mixture and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are very soft and have released a lot of moisture, another 6 to 8 minutes. The vegetable mixture will start to stick to the bottom of the pan when stirred.

Return the beef to the pot. Stir in the wine and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook for about 15 minutes, smashing down on the beef with a wooden spoon to break it up into small bits, until the wine evaporates, and the bottom of pot is dry when you run spoon through mixture. Stir in the bay leaves and nutmeg then make a well in the center of the pot. Add tomato paste to center and cook until toasted and darkened in color, about 5 minutes. Stir to combine all ingredients evenly.

Next, pour in the stock and milk. Season with a pinch of salt, bring just to a simmer, then reduce heat to low. Cook, uncovered and stirring occasionally, until the meat is extremely tender, about 2 to 2 ½ hours. Take your time and keep the heat low. There should not be rapid bubbles while cooking, just the occasional, gentle bubble. If liquid reduces too much before meat is tender, add an extra ½ cup of stock, and continue cooking. The finished sauce should be thick and have a texture like a sloppy joe mixture. Remove bay leaves, taste and adjust seasoning, adding more salt as needed. Set aside and keep warm.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. If using fresh pasta, cook for just 3 minutes. If using dry pasta, cook until very al dente, about 2 minutes less than the package directions. Before draining, use a heat proof measuring cup to reserve about 2 cups of the pasta water.

Drain pasta and add to pot of sauce. Pour in 1 cup of the pasta water, plus the ½ cup of grated parmesan. Turn heat up to medium and bring to a simmer. Cook, tossing pasta in sauce constantly, until pasta finishes cooking through to al dente and sauce thickens. If needed add more pasta water to get to the right consistency. When done, take off heat and stir in the butter. Serve immediately, topped with more grated parmesan on top.

Notes:

Pancetta is an Italian style cured bacon, which is not smoky like American bacon. You can find it in the deli section of large grocery stores. It often comes in packs, thinly sliced like prosciutto or salami. If you cannot find pancetta, you could substitute with prosciutto or with bacon. If using smoked bacon, you can blanch the bacon for 2 minutes in boiling water to remove the heavy smoke taste. If using prosciutto, you might need to add some extra olive oil while searing it, as it is not as fatty as pancetta.

In Italy, this sauce is often served with a fresh wide noodle like tagliatelle or pappardelle. Homemade or store-bought fresh pastas work great. If using dry pasta, try a tube-shaped pasta like rigatoni. I used a package of cavatappi (corkscrew) pasta which worked beautifully. Enjoy!