Ragu Bolognese
Not your average meat sauce! This Ragu Bolognese is loaded with flavor and fabulous on pasta, veggie spirals or stuffed into zucchini boats.
Servings: 6
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup High-quality extra virgin olive oil
- 1 Large white or yellow onion, diced
- 3 Medium-sized carrots, diced
- 3 Stalks of celery, diced
- 1 pound Ground beef
- ½ pound Ground pork or mild Italian sausage
- ½ teaspoon Crushed fennel seed
- 3 Cloves of garlic, minced
- 3 tablespoons Tomato paste
- ½ cup Milk
- 1 cup Dry white wine
- 1 28-ounce can whole San Marzano tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon Salt (plus more to taste)
- Several cranks of freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
- 1 tablespoon Dried oregano
- Grated Parmesano-Reggianno, for serving
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat and add the onions, carrots, and celery.
- Sautee for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are soft and have developed a light caramel color. Turn the heat down as necessary to prevent the vegetables from browning or burning. You will get brown bits on the pan, that's fine, just make sure the vegetables themselves are not browning.
- Crumble in the ground beef and pork or sausage, then add the garlic and crushed fennel. Cook until browned and most of the fat has cooked off, approximately 15-20 minutes. Use your spoon to break down the meat into a small crumble.
- Add the tomato paste and work it into the meat. Continue cooking, stirring, until the tomato paste begins to leave caramelized brown bits on the bottom of the pan, 5 minutes or so. If it starts to burn, turn down the heat.
- Add the milk and stir for 3 to 5 minutes until it is mostly absorbed and coating the meat and vegetables.
- Add the wine and stir, scraping up any browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Let it simmer until reduced by two-thirds, 3-4 minutes.
- Add in the tomatoes, salt, pepper and oregano and bring to a simmer, breaking up the tomatoes with your spoon.
- Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring frequently and continuing to break up the tomatoes as they cook. Turn down the heat if it starts scorching on the bottom of the pan. Once or twice during simmering, taste for seasoning and add a pinch or two of salt if necessary.
- Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary.
- Serve over freshly-cooked fettucine or roasted spaghetti squash, topped with grated Parmesano-Regianno.
Notes
Don't skimp on time when you are cooking the soffritto! All the wonderful things in this sauce start with getting those veggies good and caramelized.
Sometimes your tomatoes will be bitter. My first piece of advice is to find a brand that isn't and default to that, but if you do end up with a bitter sauce, add a teaspoon of sugar, stir, let it cook for a few minutes, then stir and taste again. Repeat until the sauce tastes "not bitter" (but not sweet, either).
The soffritto can be made ahead and kept in the refrigerator for two weeks, or frozen for 4-6 weeks.
Nutrition
Calories: 481.9kcal | Carbohydrates: 12.9g | Protein: 18.8g | Fat: 36.7g | Saturated Fat: 11.1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3.4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 19.6g | Cholesterol: 71.2mg | Sodium: 929.3mg | Potassium: 763.7mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 6.5g | Vitamin A: 5435.1IU | Vitamin C: 13.2mg | Calcium: 105.5mg | Iron: 3.5mg
