Italian Cooking W1: Bolognaise Sauce

Sunday March 17 2013

Tokyo, Japan

Beautiful Spring Day – Happy St. Patty's Day!

Lately, I've been obsessed with good Italian food.  So decided to challenge myself and make one Italian dish a week.  This week and the first challenge?  Bolognaise Sauce.  I love a good Bolognaise sauce.  And here is my easy but delicious recipe that I tried today.  The key though is to cook it slowly for 2-3 hours.  This sauce cannot be rushed!

Ingredients:

• 2 minced garlic cloves
• 1/2 minced onion
• 1/2 minced carrot
• 1 stalk minced celery
• 450 grams high quality ground beef
• 1 cup or so milk
• 1 cup or so white wine
•  900 grams or so high quality chopped tomato (I use Mariangela Prunotto)
• butter
• salt and pepper

How to make:

• Saute garlic, celery, onions and carrot in about 3 T butter at medium heat until softened (5 min or so)
• Add ground beef and continue to saute until beef starts turning color but not totally brown
• Add milk, bring to simmer, and simmer until milk is gone except the fat (15min or so)
• Add wine, bring to simmer, and simmer until wine is gone (15min or so)
• Add chpped tomatoes, bring to simmer and then on very very low heat, cook for 3 hours (heat should be so low that you get one or two bubbles.  Season with salt
• When ready to serve add about 2 T butter and serve on fettucine with ample parmigiano cheese