Mario Batalis Fettuccine Bolognese Food

FETTUCCINE BOLOGNESE

Steps:

• Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add onions, celery and garlic and sauté until vegetables are tender and beginning to brown, about 10 minutes. Increase heat to high; add veal, pork and pancetta and sauté until meat is brown, breaking up meat with back of fork, about 10 minutes. Add tomatoes with their juices, 1 3/4 cups stock, milk and thyme. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered 1 hour 15 minutes, breaking up tomatoes with back of spoon, adding more stock if mixture is too thick and stirring occasionally. Season ragù to taste with salt and pepper.
• Cook fettuccine in large pot of boiling salted water just until tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain. Add fettuccine to pot with ragù and toss to blend. Transfer to large bowl. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup Parmesan. Serve, passing remaining Parmesan separately.

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.

MARIO BATALI'S FETTUCCINE BOLOGNESE

Steps:

• heat oil in heavy large pot over medium heat.
• Add onions, celery and garlic an saute until vegetables are tender and beginning to brown, about 10 minutes.
• Increase heat to high; add veal, pork, pancetta or bacon and saute until meat is brown, breaking up meat with the back of a fork, about 10 minutes.
• Add tomatoes with their juices, 1 3/4 cups chicken broth, milk and thyme.
• Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered for 1 hour 15 minutes, breaking up tomatoes with the back of a spoon, adding more chicken broth if mixture is too thick and stirring occasionally.
• Season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Cook fettuccine in large pot of boiling water just until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally.
• Drain.
• Add fettuccine to pot with ragu and toss to blend.
• Transfer to large bowl.
• Sprinkle with 1/2 cup Parmesan.
• Serve, passing remaining Parmesan seperately.

PASTA WITH BOLOGNESE SAUCE

Steps:

• Make sauce:
• In large heavy saucepan heat oil and butter over moderately high heat until foam subsides and sauté onion, carrot, and celery, stirring 2 minutes. Add beef and pork and cook, stirring, 2 minutes, or until meat is no longer pink. Season mixture with salt and pepper. Add milk and nutmeg and cook, stirring, until most milk is evaporated, about 10 minutes. Add wine and cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid is evaporated, about 10 minutes.
• In a blender or food processor coarsely purée tomatoes with juice and stir into sauce. Cook sauce at a bare simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, 1 hour and 15 minutes (sauce will be thickened) and season with salt and pepper. Sauce may be made ahead and cooled, uncovered, before being chilled, covered, 2 days or frozen 1 month.
• In an 8-quart kettle bring 7 quarts salted water to a boil. Cook pasta until al dente (about 6 minutes for fresh, longer for dried) and drain in a colander. In a heated large bowl immediately toss pasta with sauce.