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Ragu Alla Bolognese
Difficulty Level Easy
It has been unbelievably frigid here for days on end. My living room is so cold that I haven't been able to play the piano for the past three days. I'm torn between wanting to cook something hearty and warming and wanting to flee my kitchen for the comparative warmth of my second floor office.
Our morning newspaper, The Globe and Mail, has a a number of chefs from around the city who write columns and contribute recipes each week. This week was the Italian chef Massimo Capra and his recipe was for Bolognese. Having breakfast at the dining room table with my hands under my armpits trying to drink my tea before it became ice tea, this seemed like a really good plan. The active time is pretty minimal, but you have to let it cook for a long time, so I got it going and then retired to my office while the wonderful aroma filled the house and made it seem warmer, even though it wasn't. I thought about making it in my crock pot, but apparently you have to put any dairy products in right at the end of the cooking or it curdles.
This makes a really big pot of sauce, so if you are having a Super Bowl party this weekend you might consider making this. My husband and I got two full dinners out of it and I have enough left to make a small lasagne for my Sunday dinner. I made the pasta with my new pasta machine a made the pasta fairly thick to stand up to the rustic sauce.
INGREDIENTS
| 3 cups | mixed ground onion, celery and carrots, minced |
| 4 garlic | cloves |
| 2 ounces | olive oil |
| 2 tablespoons | butter |
| 2 | bay leaves |
| 6 ounces | ground pancetta (or prosciutto) |
| 1 pound | ground beef |
| 1 pound | sausage meat, loosened |
| 1 cup | white wine |
| 1 cup | milk |
| 16 ounces | canned chopped tomatoes |
| 3 cups | chicken stock |
| Salt and pepper to taste | |
| 1 | dash grated nutmeg |
PREPARATION:
- Saute the onions, celery, carrots and garlic with the oil and butter. Add the bay leaves and pancetta and saute until the meat is translucent.
- In a separate pan, saute the beef and sausage meat over high heat; be sure to break up all the lumps. Cooking this meat separately from the vegetables and draining off the fat prevents the sauce from becoming fatty. You can also cool the sauce in the refrigerator to solidify any remaining fat, which can then be scraped away easily. Add the meat to the vegetable/pancetta mix.
- Sprinkle in the wine and let it evaporate. Add the milk and simmer for about 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes and stock, and season with a little salt and pepper and a dash of nutmeg.
- Simmer, covered, for at least two hours. Stir from time to time. If needed, add more salt and pepper.
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