The Family Table: Bolognese sauce stuns
It isn鈥檛 low fat, though it鈥檚 so good, it鈥檚 worth the indulgence.
I recently experimented with Bolognese, a meaty, rich pasta sauce that is typically served over thick flat pasta noodles. I鈥檝e no idea what made me want to make it at home; it wasn鈥檛 as though we鈥檇 gone somewhere I鈥檇 eaten it, and immediately wanted to try and replicate it.
Perhaps it was an extension of my ongoing quest to make a homemade spaghetti sauce as good as my mother-in-law鈥檚.
I鈥檝e written about Connie鈥檚 sauce and meatballs here before: they are last-meal-on-earth good, according to the 16-year-old.
He鈥檚 not wrong. Any time she makes it, those at her house for Sunday dinner gather around to pull the chunks of roast and vegetables out of her sauce, my husband and his brother fighting over who鈥檚 going to eat it. And the meatballs she adds to simmer in the sauce are the most tender meatballs I鈥檝e ever had.
They get devoured quickly; there are rarely leftovers (unless you set some aside before everyone eats).
I鈥檝e taken meticulous mental notes when she鈥檚 gone over with me what she does, and I鈥檝e had some success. The knock off, however, is never as good as the original.
So while no one in our house will spit their meatballs and sauce out into a napkin, or slyly feed it to the dogs, there is an unspoken understanding that Gramma Connie鈥檚 are better.
She鈥檚 offered to have me make them with her, to show me step-by-step what she does, but I fear the magic would be lost 鈥�. or I鈥檇 screw them up and have an angry mob of Sunday diners on my back.
I鈥檝e accepted that I can make good, though, as the kids say, 鈥渘ot Gramma Connie good,鈥� meatballs and sauce.
While Bolongnese sauce doesn鈥檛 have meatballs in it, it does have plenty of meat. Because it鈥檚 so thick and hearty, I used it to stuff bell peppers, top them with cheese and bake them. I also made it into a lasagna.
A 13-inch by 9-inch pan of it disappeared in less than 24 hours, except for the couple small pieces I saved for my mom.
She also loved the sauce, by the way.
She liked it so much, that I believe it may be responsible for her absolute dislike of the homemade eggrolls I sent her when I dropped off the lasagna.
Those eggrolls resulted in her telling me something that she鈥檚 never said before: don鈥檛 ever send them to her again.
The eggrolls (which everyone in our house loved) are another story for another column. My mom, I鈥檒l bet, will read this and call me to tell me not to share the recipe.
In the meantime, go with a simple success in the Bolognese.
The kids tell me I鈥檝e managed to tie Connie in pasta sauce deliciousness. That鈥檚 a compliment I鈥檒l take.
Bolognese sauce
4 strips bacon, diced
1 onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
1/2 pound each: ground pork, lean ground beef, ground sweet sausage
1 cup dry red wine
2 cans tomato puree
1 cup heavy cream
In a heavy bottomed pot, sautee the bacon until brown. Remove it, and set it aside to drain on a paper towel. Brown the ground meats, breaking them up into crumbles, and once they are cooked through, drain off most of the excess fat. With the ground meat still in the pot, add in the onions and carrots and cook them until they are starting to soften.
Add the bacon back in, and pour in the wine, scraping up any browned bits on the bottom of the pot. Cook the wine into the meat until it has reduced by at least half, which should take several minutes. Add the tomato puree and cream, and stir until it鈥檚 combined.
Simmer the sauce over low heat, stirring occasionally, until it鈥檚 thickened.