Freakin Delicious Bolognese Food

SIMPLE BOLOGNESE

Steps:

• In a large skillet heat the olive oil. When almost smoking, add the onion and garlic and saute over medium heat until the onions become very soft, about 8 minutes. Add the celery and carrot and saute for 5 minutes. Raise heat to high and add the ground beef. Saute, stirring frequently and breaking up any large lumps and cook until meat is no longer pink, about 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes, parsley and basil and cook over medium low heat until the sauce thickens. Season with salt and pepper. This will take approximately 1/2 hour. Finish bolognese with Pecorino Romano.

SPAGHETTI BOLOGNESE

Steps:

• Brown the beef in a large pot in batched until well browned. Remove from the pot and set aside.
• In the same pot, add a splash of oil and fry the onion, carrot and celery for 10-15 minutes until soft and fragrant.
• Add the garlic, bay leaf, thyme and rosemary and fry for another minute.
• Add the beef back to the pot and add the tomatoes and beef stock.
• Lower the heat so the sauce simmers and cover. Allow to cook for 30 minutes. If the sauce is too watery, remove the lid for the last 10 minutes of simmering so the liquid can reduce.
• In the meantime, cook the pasta in a big pot of boiling salted water.
• Serve the bolognese with the cooked spaghetti and a generous grating of Parmesan.

THE BEST BOLOGNESE

Steps:

• Combine the beef and pork in a large bowl. "Pull" the ground meat apart with two forks as if you were shredding pulled pork, breaking up the clumps and incorporating the meat without compacting it. Continue to pull the meat apart until thoroughly mixed and no clumps remain.
• Heat the oil in a Dutch oven or large heavy pot over medium-high heat. Cook the pancetta, stirring occasionally, until the fat has rendered and is golden brown on all sides, 4 to 6 minutes. Transfer the pancetta with a slotted spoon to a large bowl, leaving the fat in the pot.
• Spread half of the ground meat in an even layer in the pot and cook undisturbed until lightly golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Toss and continue to cook, breaking up any clumps with the back of a spoon and scraping up any browned bits from the pot, until the meat is lightly browned on both sides, 1 to 2 minutes more. Transfer the browned meat with a slotted spoon to the bowl with the pancetta, leaving the fat in the pot. Repeat with the remaining ground meat.
• Reduce the heat to medium. Add the garlic, celery, carrots, onions, bay leaf, nutmeg, 2 teaspoons salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender but not browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring constantly, until very fragrant and brick red, about 2 minutes. Stir in the wine, bring to a boil and cook until it reduces and thickens and no smell of alcohol remains, 6 to 8 minutes. Stir in the stock, milk and browned meat.
• Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low. Add the Parmesan rind and simmer, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid has evaporated away and the mixture resembles sloppy joes, 2 to 2 1/2 hours. There shouldn't be any rapid bubbles while cooking. Instead, the sauce should release occasional small bubbles. If you have a small burner you should use it; the larger burners even at their lowest setting might cook the sauce too quickly. If the sauce reduces too quickly, add 1/2 cup of stock or water and continue cooking; repeat if necessary. The sauce needs the full 2 to 2 1/2 hour cook time to develop the flavors.
• Discard the bay leaf and Parmesan rind. Use the back of a spoon to break up any remaining clumps of meat for an even-textured sauce. Season with salt and keep warm.
• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Cook the pasta. If using fresh pasta, cook about 3 minutes. If using dry, cook until very al dente, about 2 minutes less than the package directions.
• Reserve 1 cup of the pasta cooking liquid, then drain the pasta and transfer to the sauce. Increase the heat to medium, bring the sauce to a simmer and cook, tossing the pasta constantly, until the pasta is al dente and the sauce is slightly thickened, adding pasta cooking liquid if necessary, about 2 minutes.
• Transfer the pasta to a platter and top with grated Parmesan.

FREAKIN' DELICIOUS BOLOGNESE

Steps:

• In a large stew pot or Dutch oven heat butter and oil until foam subsides.
• Add onion, carrot, celery and garlic and saute 5 minutes.
• Add pancetta and/or sausage (I've done it all ways), breaking up into small pieces, saute 5 minutes.
• Add ground beef and saute until all meat is browned, breaking up large chunks.
• Add wine, broth, and tomato paste. Cook over high heat 5 minutes.
• Add spices and cook 10 more minutes over medium heat.
• Add crushed tomatoes (with juice) and return to a boil.
• Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer two hours, stirring occasionally.
• Before serving, add milk or half and half slowly while stirring. This gives the sauce a slightly creamy touch. Use higher fat content for richer flavor. Be sure to allow the dairy to reach room temperature as it will separate and look ugly if you add it cold.
• Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve over al dente pasta.
• Note: if using Ethiopian/Eritrean berbere for an Northeast African flair, omit nutmeg but add together with other spices (oregano, sage, etc) in step 6. Berbere is very strong and spicy and contains a unique blend of capsicum, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, etc. Add a little at first and adjust. Too much will ruin the dish!

THE BEST SPAGHETTI BOLOGNESE RECIPE

Steps:

• Put a large saucepan on a medium heat and add 1 tbsp olive oil.
• Add 4 finely chopped bacon rashers and fry for 10 mins until golden and crisp.
• Reduce the heat and add the 2 onions, 2 carrots, 2 celery sticks, 2 garlic cloves and the leaves from 2-3 sprigs rosemary, all finely chopped, then fry for 10 mins. Stir the veg often until it softens.
• Increase the heat to medium-high, add 500g beef mince and cook stirring for 3-4 mins until the meat is browned all over.
• Add 2 tins plum tomatoes, the finely chopped leaves from ¾ small pack basil, 1 tsp dried oregano, 2 bay leaves, 2 tbsp tomato purée, 1 beef stock cube, 1 deseeded and finely chopped red chilli (if using), 125ml red wine and 6 halved cherry tomatoes. Stir with a wooden spoon, breaking up the plum tomatoes.
• Bring to the boil, reduce to a gentle simmer and cover with a lid. Cook for 1 hr 15 mins stirring occasionally, until you have a rich, thick sauce.
• Add the 75g grated parmesan, check the seasoning and stir.
• When the bolognese is nearly finished, cook 400g spaghetti following the pack instructions.
• Drain the spaghetti and either stir into the bolognese sauce, or serve the sauce on top. Serve with more grated parmesan, the remaining basil leaves and crusty bread, if you like.

ALL DAY RAGU (BOLOGNESE)

Steps:

• Ensure the minced meats are at room temperature, leave defrost overnight if necessary its best to do this after you have done the tomatoes.
• Tomato Preparation (the night before):.
• Cut a light cross in the smooth end of the tomatoes. In a large pot of rapidly boiling water, quickly place a tomato in and let sit for no longer than 30 seconds to blanche the skin. Remove and rinse under cool water to stop the cooking process. You should now be able to gently peel the skins off the tomato.
• Next, quarter the tomato and spoon the pulp into a sieve over a bowl. For each tomato that is pulped add a couple of light pinches of salt over the pulp in the sieve. Let the pulp drain overnight in the fridge to remove all the juice in the bowl.
• On the day of cooking dice the tomato flesh and set aside for during the cooking process.
• The day of the Ragu.
• Pre heat an oven to 150°C.
• Dice the onions.
• Heat a good cast iron caserole dish on the stove and add the olive
• Fry off the onion in the caserole dish until they are well caramelized.
• Add the pork mince first and cook off until brown.
• Once the pork is browned add the veal and cook altogether well.
• Add the tomato paste to the meat/onion mix and cook off briefly for a minute or two.
• Add the diced tomato flesh and stir in well, at the same time add the juice collected overnight.
• Stir well and cover the caserole dish then place in the pre heated oven.
• Wait at least 4 hours before removing and giving gentle stir. Test for liquid consistency and add water as necessary to reach your preferred level. This is entirely subjective and it depends how "soupy" you prefer your ragu. Now is the perfect time to test your seasoning levels, add salt as necessary however most of the salt needed is added during the tomato preparation.
• 2 hours before dishing time add the fresh herbs and stir in well and taste test.
• 1/2 hour before dishing remove and do a final liquid check and taste test.
• Dish up and enjoy. This is ideally served on fresh home made pasta (1 large egg per 125g fine plain flour) you should have ample time to make this while the ragu is cooking.