Bolognese Sauce

Bolognese has always been my favorite kind of sauce. I make mine a little different each time. Below are the basics, based off my Grandma Filomena's recipe, with a few changes. If you want to add carrots and celery (I don't always add them and did not tonight), I find it easiest to use a small food processor for those and the onion and garlic. I also usually add red wine after the tomatoes, but most recipes say to add it before and cook it a few minutes. Red wine gives the sauce such a great flavor - I always add lots of it!

Below is a double recipe (the original recipe calls for 1 pound total of meat and one of each can of tomatoes). I did not double the onion and garlic in the recipe below, but you can. I usually make this double recipe in my Le Creuset 5.5-qt. Dutch Oven. Tonight I tried a triple recipe (2 pounds of ground beef and 1 pound of ground sausage) in my new Le Creuset 6.75-qt. Round Wide Dutch Oven, and it just barely fit. I managed not to spill any though! That dutch oven worked well because there was so much room to brown the meat. This was my first time using it and I love it! The next time I make a triple recipe, I should probably use my Le Creuset 7.25-qt. Dutch Oven, just to have a little more space to stir the sauce! This triple recipe was enough sauce for dinner tonight with 1 pound of pasta, and then I froze 4 5-cup containers of sauce for easy dinners in the near future.

You can easily adapt this recipe to your liking. I'm posting it here so I remember next time what I did tonight because it was delicious. My husband had 3 bowls of pasta which he rarely does, so it must have been good!

Bolognese Sauce

 

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 carrots, finely chopped (optional)

2 celery stalks, finely chopped (optional)

1 pound ground beef

1 pound ground pork sausage

2 28-ounce cans Whole Tomatoes 

2 6-ounce cans Tomato paste, plus 2 6-ounce cans of water

Fresh basil

Salt and pepper, to taste

Oregano, to taste (optional)

Rosemary, to taste (optional)

Italian Seasoning, to taste (optional)

Red wine (6-8 ounces or as much as you like)

Fresh parsley, chopped

Pasta water

 

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan or dutch oven. Sauté onion, garlic, carrots and celery (if you are using them) until the onion is translucent. Add the ground meat and brown it while breaking it up.

Add salt, pepper, oregano, rosemary and Italian seasoning (or seasonings of your choice) to the browned meat mixture.

Add a generous amount of red wine, stir, and cook for a few minutes (or you can add the wine after the tomatoes).

Blend whole tomatoes (or you can use a 28-ounce can of tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes instead of whole tomatoes), tomato paste, can of water and fresh basil in blender until smooth. Add blended sauce to the meat. (If you don't need to blend the tomatoes, add the tomato paste and water to the meat mixture first and cook for a few minutes, then add the tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes after).

Continue cooking slowly, simmering for at least 1½ hours, stirring occasionally.

Add chopped fresh parsley once the sauce is done cooking.

Cook your favorite pasta. Once the pasta is ready and before draining it, add a ladle full of pasta water to the sauce. Stir the sauce once more and serve it on your pasta!

Freeze remaining sauce in small containers for future use.

This sauce is perfect to use with lasagna, baked ziti and stuffed shells as well.

3 recipes of Bolognese in my 6.75-qt. Le Creuset Round Wide Dutch Oven

2 recipes of Bolognese in my 5.5-qt. Le Creuset Round Dutch Oven