Italian Dinner Night? This pasta Bolognese will make you fall in love

Why it Works:

If you can’t go to Italy, bring Italy to your dinner table with this authentic, slow-cooked pasta Bolognese sauce that will make even the toughest food critic melt right at your feet. Some say I was an Italian grandmother in a past life (because I love to feed people). I say, I was an Italian matchmaker that used this magical sauce to make people fall in love. Here’s what makes the magic happen.

Beef, Pork & Veal

For the optimal outcome, I highly recommend you use a combination of all three meats because each one brings its own flavor and fat content to the party. Through the slow cooking process, they blend together to create this beautiful, rich depth of flavor that is unmatched by one type of meat alone. But if you don’t want to use veal then you can increase the ratio of beef and pork. Or beef and veal, whichever is your preference.

Don’t underestimate the magic of time

Like with any good love story, things get better with time and the adage especially holds true for this Pasta Bolognese Sauce. You can’t rush it. You don’t want to, trust me. I’ve cooked this dish countless times and when I taste it about 30 minutes in, I swear I’ve somehow managed to mess up my own recipe. And then I taste it after two hours and it’s perfect. Just like getting ready for date night, you can’t rush the outcome. It’s not pretty. The good stuff is always worth the wait.

Consistency is a thing

This magical meat sauce concoction is cooked down not just in wine and tomato sauce but with milk. Milk? That’s right. It’s the secret ingredient that gives this Bolognese sauce the melt-in-your-mouth tenderness. The calcium in the milk reacts with the enzymes in the meat and acts as a tenderizer. Be sure to read the tips in the recipe about bringing the milk to a simmer and not a boil but that’s the only tricky step. Everything else about this dish is easy and the cooking process takes care of itself. This is a GREAT do-ahead dish for a dinner party.

One more thing on the consistency, I like to chop my veggies pretty small for this dish and then when I crumble the meat into the pan, I also like to take the time to break it down into small, similar sized pieces. This will give you the most even consistency in the end and the meat sauce will be saucy not chunky. And we all aspire for sauce not chunky.

Toppings & Ratios

Okay, I know this sounds really nit-picky, but I feel that it’s important enough we can talk about it. Ratios and toppings. Ratios first. This is a meat sauce that you slow-cooked with love for hours. Pasta, you boil in a few minutes, and it’s done. And it’s bland. And, really let’s be honest, is only a vessel for the meat sauce. I mean, don’t get me wrong I love pasta but it’s about the meat in this case. When we make gnocchi that’s a different scenario. So, I recommend using only about half the pasta you normally would. You want the pasta to soak up the sauce and the meat to be overflowing on top. What you don’t want is a big pile of noodles where you are searching for the meat. Right? We’ve all been there. I think we’ve learned.

Now, for the toppings. With any rich meat sauce, and you’ll see this in my other recipes, I use a gremolata breadcrumb topping. This Pasta Bolognese is no exception. The bit of crunchy, toasted breadcrumbs on top with a hit of lemon zest and herbs and garlic really is a nice touch. You can make that bit ahead as well. Take the time for that extra little step, you won’t regret it. Remember falling in love is in the details.

Now, on to the recipe and some cooking tips and presentation ideas.

Bolognese Sauce:

*Total cook time 2 – 2 1/2 hours.  Dish can be made a day ahead.

Serves 4-6

• ¾ lb. ground beef
• ½ lb. ground pork
• ½ lb. ground veal
• 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 3 medium carrots, peeled and finely diced
• 1 medium yellow onion, peeled and finely diced
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 cloves garlic, diced
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 cups whole milk
• ¾ cup dry red wine
• 2 Tablespoons tomato paste
• 1- 28oz can good quality crushed tomatoes (San Marzano)
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• ¼ cup heavy cream or ½ & ½ (optional)
• 1/3 cup grated parmesan
• Salt & Pepper

½ lb. fettuccine or favorite pasta, cooked to al dente according to package instructions, drained

Breadcrumb Gremolata Topping

¾ cup Panko break crumbs

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

1 tablespoon olive oil

Zest, 1 lemon

1 teaspoon finely minced garlic

¼ cup grated parmesan

2 tablespoons flat leaf parsley, finely chopped

Bolognese Cooking Method:

1. In a large heavy soup pot over medium heat add in the butter and olive oil.  When melted add in the onion, carrot, and bay leaf and pinch of red pepper flakes.  Sauté until tender but not browned, about 4-5 minutes and then add in the garlic and cook for additional 30 seconds.
2. Add the meat to the pan and season with salt and pepper.  Break the meat down with a wooden spoon until you have small, even pieces.  Don’t brown the meat or it will be tough, just start the cooking process. This is the point you want to add the milk.  The milk tenderizes the meat, but you don’t want to bring it to a boil, or it will curdle.  Turn the heat down to medium low and stir gently as it absorbs into the meat for about 5 minutes.  Not all the milk will absorb.
3. Add in the red wine, tomato paste, crush tomatoes, and sugar.  Bring mixture back up to a boil and mix to incorporate all the ingredients.  Reduce to a simmer and cook uncovered for 50-55 minutes, stirring occasionally and skimming off any fat that forms at the top.  Taste for salt and pepper.  Typically, I add more at this point along with a little more spice. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook for another 45 minutes or more.  This is where the magic happens.  Do not shorten this step or the meat sauce will not be as tender and flavorful.  Taste and adjust salt again if needed.  Add parmesan and heavy cream, if using.
4. In a large pot combine the pasta and meat sauce and toss gently, removing the bay leaf.  Place on a serving platter or individual bowls and finish with breadcrumb Gremolata.

Breadcrumb Gremolata Method:

1. In a medium sauté pan over medium low heat add in the olive oil and butter until the butter is melted.  Add in the lemon zest and garlic and cook while stirring gently to ensure even cooking of all breadcrumbs until golden brown. 
2. Remove from heat and add in the parmesan and parsley.

What to serve with it:

Hosting an Italian Dinner Night is a favorite dinner party idea for many. It has a relaxing ring to it and, let’s face it, lots of wine. And, since pasta Bolognese is such a big dish you don’t need to plan a whole lot to go with it. I like to serve smaller portions of the meat sauce for a dinner party and round out the meal with an appetizer and salad as well. If you serve huge bowls of pasta no one is going to have room for all that. And pasta Bolognese saves well so what’s wrong with some leftovers?

A good pairing menu in terms of flavors and textures includes my Slow Roasted Grape & Ricotta Crostini and the Deconstructed Apple & Prosciutto Frisee Salad with Toasted Hazelnuts. For the salad I would serve without the pictured crostini since the appetizer course included bread. One reason this makes a good menu is because the grapes for the appetizer are a do-ahead step, making that dish easy to pull together. And the salad course is very simple but presented in a different way and the vinaigrette is a do-ahead step as well.

Presentation and Cooking:

Bolognese is one of the few times when I insist that a Le Creuset or enameled heavy pot really makes a difference. It holds up to the heat and keeps the ingredients at a perfect simmer during the whole slow-cooking process. You do stir from time to time as the liquids cook down, but you don’t get a burnt mess on the bottom or an uneven temperature. This is the one I use. I’ve had mine for more years than I’d like to mention, and I still love it.

As for how to portion down the main dish so that there’s room for an appetizer and salad, I like to use these cute little dishes from SurLaTable. They are actually for Creme Brule, but I use them for all kinds of savory dishes and appetizer because they can be heated in the oven, and they just make a great presentation. In this case it allows you to spread out the noodles and pile the meat sauce on top and then top with that gremolata so you can really get a sense of what you are eating.

I also love this bistro bowl for style points.

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Of course, family style is great too. If you are going to serve on a platter, I’d recommend heat the platter first and using something oven proof and then spread out the pasta on the platter first, mound with a heaping amount of the meat sauce, and top with the gremolata breadcrumb topping. Spreading the goodness out on a platter is a better presentation than serving the pasta in a smaller bowl where the pasta and meat sauce just get jumbled together. That’s fine for the day after though:)