Pasta Bolognese

This weeks Food Network Chef Challenge Hosted by I Blame My Mother was Anne Burrell.  I didn’t have to look far to know that I wanted to try her Pasta Bolognese.  It received 5 stars and rave reviews, that and I love a good pasta meat sauce.  This recipe is definitely a labor of love but so so so so worth it.  It takes about 5 hours to cook, hence the labor of love.  The secret is the initial browning, then adding liquid and reducing.  This recipe is one that I will be making from now on, I am forever spoiled and ruined to ever use store bought spaghetti sauce again.  Luckily this recipe makes a huge batch so I have some frozen and I am already eager to pull it out.

So let me show you how

Ingredients: 1 large onion or 2 small, cut into 1-inch dice, 2 large carrots, cut into 1/2-inch dice, 3 ribs celery, cut into 1-inch dice, 4 cloves garlic, Extra-virgin olive oil, for the pan, Kosher salt, 3 pounds ground chuck, brisket or round or combination, 2 cups tomato paste, 3 cups hearty red wine, Water, 3 bay leaves, 1 bunch thyme, tied in a bundle, 1 pound spaghetti, 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, High quality extra-virgin olive oil, for finishing

Rough chop all your veggies and add to food processor

process until coarse chop

Add olive oil and your processed veggies to a large stock pot

and a good amount of salt

and this is a super important step, cook until brown, around 15-20 minutes

Then add your ground meat and another fair amount of salt

And important brown again for another 15-20 minutes, until you see lots of brown bits

Then add your tomato paste, stir well

and cooked until brown another 4-5  minutes

Then add your good red wine

cook until reduced

Then add water till about 1 inch above meat

add bay leaves

and thyme

Bring to a boil and reduce the water down

Then add more water and reduce down, this will take several hours

about 30 minutes before the sauce is finished, bring a large pot of salted water to boil add in 1lb spaghetti sauce

once sauce if finished remove bay leaves

and reserve half of the meat Bolognese

Then add your spaghetti to the sauce

along with a cup spoonfuls of pasta water

Mix well and top with parmesan

and a good drizzle of olive oil, then mix well

Serve immediately by this point I was dying to try it.

Be sure to check out the other challenge participants at I Blame My Mother.

Print This Recipe

Pasta Bolognese

Recipe courtesy Anne Burrell

Ingredients

1 large onion or 2 small, cut into 1-inch dice

2 large carrots, cut into 1/2-inch dice

3 ribs celery, cut into 1-inch dice

4 cloves garlic

Extra-virgin olive oil, for the pan

Kosher salt

3 pounds ground chuck, brisket or round or combination

2 cups tomato paste

3 cups hearty red wine

Water

3 bay leaves

1 bunch thyme, tied in a bundle

1 pound spaghetti

1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

High quality extra-virgin olive oil, for finishing

Directions

In a food processor, puree onion, carrots, celery, and garlic into a coarse paste. In a large pan over medium heat, coat pan with oil. Add the pureed veggies and season generously with salt. Bring the pan to a medium-high heat and cook until all the water has evaporated and they become nice and brown, stirring frequently, about 15 to 20 minutes. Be patient, this is where the big flavors develop.

Add the ground beef and season again generously with salt. BROWN THE BEEF! Brown food tastes good. Don’t rush this step. Cook another 15 to 20 minutes.

Add the tomato paste and cook until brown about 4 to 5 minutes. Add the red wine. Cook until the wine has reduced by half, another 4 to 5 minutes.

Add water to the pan until the water is about 1 inch above the meat. Toss in the bay leaves and the bundle of thyme and stir to combine everything. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer, stirring occasionally. As the water evaporates you will gradually need to add more, about 2 to 3 cups at a time. Don’t be shy about adding water during the cooking process, you can always cook it out. This is a game of reduce and add more water. This is where big rich flavors develop. If you try to add all the water in the beginning you will have boiled meat sauce rather than a rich, thick meaty sauce. Stir and TASTE frequently. Season with salt, if needed (you probably will). Simmer for 3 1/2 to 4 hours.

During the last 30 minutes of cooking, bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat to cook the spaghetti. Pasta water should ALWAYS be well salted. Salty as the ocean! TASTE IT! If your pasta water is under seasoned it doesn’t matter how good your sauce is, your complete dish will always taste under seasoned. When the water is at a rolling boil add the spaghetti and cook for 1 minute less than it calls for on the package. Reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking water.

While the pasta is cooking remove 1/2 of the ragu from the pot and reserve.

Drain the pasta and add to the pot with the remaining ragu. Stir or toss the pasta to coat with the sauce. Add some of the reserved sauce, if needed, to make it about an even ratio between pasta and sauce. Add the reserved pasta cooking water and cook the pasta and sauce together over a medium heat until the water has reduced. Turn off the heat and give a big sprinkle of Parmigianino and a generous drizzle of the high quality finishing olive oil. Toss or stir vigorously. Divide the pasta and sauce into serving bowls or 1 big pasta bowl. Top with remaining grated Parmigianino. Serve immediately.