How to Make Bolognese Sauce
Once you accomplish the initial steps, it’s all about the simmer. Hey, Rome wasn’t built in a day so you had to know their sauce would take at least four hours to make.
You have not tried spaghetti sauce until you’ve had rich, meaty Bolognese sauce. I promise you will never go back.
How to Make Bolognese Sauce
Preheat oven to 350°F.
- 6 garlic cloves
- 3 medium tomatoes, quartered
- 6 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1 large yellow onion, fine-diced
- 2 large carrots, fine-diced
- 3 stalks celery, fine-diced
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter (1/2 a stick)
- 4 ounces pancetta cubetti
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 1 1/2 cup broth (1 cup may be replaced with a dry white or red wine)
- 3 tablespoons beef Better Than Bouillon
- 6 ounces tomato paste
- 8 ounces ground beef
- 8 ounces ground veal
- 8 ounces ground country pork
- 1 teaspoon sea salt plus additional if needed
- 1 teaspoon coarse ground pepper plus additional if needed
Most meats come in about one-pound packages. If making one recipe, you can freeze the other halves. You’ll be making this again soon. I promise.
Cut tomatoes into quarters and place them on a baking sheet drizzled with olive oil. Salt & pepper tomatoes. Add garlic cloves (still wrapped in peels) to the pan as well. Bake for 20 minutes.
In a large pot, pour olive oil and add butter. Melt over medium-high heat. Add pancetta and allow to cook for a few minutes. Add diced veggies. Cook until onions are translucent.
While veggies cook, place milk, water, Better Than Bouillon, and tomato paste into a medium bowl and whisk together. Set aside.
Remove tomatoes and garlic from the oven when they are done. Remove peels from garlic (they should practically slide off). This is the only step that requires the oven so you can turn it off when they finish roasting. Add tomatoes & peeled garlic to the food processor. Process until garlic is minced.
Add ground meats to the large pot with the veggies & pancetta. Sprinkle with one teaspoon of salt & one teaspoon of pepper. Using a utensil, break the meat up well while cooking. Pieces should be very fine. Allow the meat to cook until it is beautifully browned.
Add milk mixture to the pot. Stir in while scraping the bottom of the pan clean to incorporate any yummy browning that is stuck to the pan (this is called deglazing the pan). Add tomatoes and garlic to the pot as well. Stir. Allow sauce to simmer on the lowest heat with a lid partially covering for about 4 hours. Stir once & a while. The sauce will become redder and be kind of oily in texture as it cooks. Near the end is a good time for additional salt & pepper, if needed, since it may reduce down and become too salty if you add a lot in the beginning.
When it is time to serve, cook noodles according to instructions on the box. Be sure to bring water to a boil first, add noodles, then cook for as long as the box says (all pasta cooking times are different).
If you’re a fan of the Spaghetti Factory, you may be familiar with their half butter & mizithra and half rich meat sauce option. I love recreating that entree at home by putting this sauce on half my pasta and melted butter & grated mizithra cheese (found in most deli departments in the grocery store) on the other half. Mamma mia!
If you don’t count the fact there are no naked male statues standing by glorious fountains, bold red wines, and churches, it’s just like I’m there. Only, you know, I’m watching the Mariners on ESPN and approximately 5,661 miles away from an ancient Colosseum.