Pasta Bolognese

Week 14/52

Originally, I wanted to make Lasagna alla Bolognese for this recipe. But I realized how many more ingredients I would’ve had to buy, how quick I probably would’ve eaten it, and that I’m lactose intolerant. (no mozzarella rip). So, pocketing that recipe for another time, I committed to filling my entire apartment with the smell of meat sauce for the next day. Recipe Inspiration

Recipe:
Mirepoix: Onion, Garlic, Celery, Carrots
Ground Beef
Spices: Rosemary, Thyme, Bay Leaves
Red Wine: Something dry like a Pinot or Cabernet
Pasta of your Choice
Italian Parsley
Grated Parmesan

The whole idea of this recipe is that it’s simple, but takes time and care to build your flavors in each layer of ingredients.
It all starts with a mirepóix of Onion, Celery, Carrots, and Garlic:

Sweat them out of all their moisture.

Add your meat, season generously, and heavily brown until you get some nice fond.

Add “two-shots-of-vodka meme” amount of red wine to deglaze. Then, add your rosemary, thyme, bay leaves, water to cover, and reduce for 2-3 hours (adding water as it reduces over the duration).

Add a healthy glug of milk at the end to bring the sauce together. Boil some pasta just under al-dente, and finish cooking it in bolognese+pasta water (I scavenged some “wide egg-noodles” from Ralphs here). I finished with some fresh Italian parsley and grated parmesan on top. And that’s it!

Overall 8.5/10:
What an incredibly rich meat sauce. Over the 2-3 hours of reducing, I could taste the flavor deepen as time went on, especially after adding more red wine. I ended up freezing half of this, and have been eating the other quart over the past few days. I think it might actually be a bit too rich for my liking. I know it’s “meant” to be this way, but it’s just sooo heavy and after two days of this I don’t want to eat anymore hahaha. Also spending 20 minutes scrubbing down my range was not the most rewarding feeling. NEVERTHELESS, I think I got this recipe down pat. Peace!