The best Bolognese sauce is not a tomato sauce, it is a deep richly flavoured beef sauce with very few ingredients & takes it's time simmering to perfection.
Course
Dinner
Cuisine
Italian Inspired
Prep Time30minutes
Cook Time3hours
Total Time3hours30minutes
Servings10servings, approximately.
Calories445kcal
AuthorBarry C. Parsons
Ingredients
3tbspolive oil
6ouncesfinely diced pancetta or bacon
3poundslean ground beef
1tspfreshly ground black pepper
1tspsea salt
1tspfreshly ground nutmeg
4cupspureed canned tomatoes
2cupsdry red wine
3cupslow sodium beef stock
1/2cupmilk
3large bay leaves
2large carrotsfinely diced
3celery sticksfinely diced
2large onionsfinely diced
6clovesgarlicfinely minced
2poundsfresh or dried pasta of your choice
1cupfreshly grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
Instructions
In a large dutch oven or small stock pot over medium heat, add the olive oil and chopped pancetta or bacon. Cook until the pancetta or bacon is almost crispy.
Add the onions, garlic, celery and carrots and cook until the onions have softened and begin to caramelize to a light brown color, stirring often.
Add the ground beef, salt, pepper, and nutmeg and cook until the beef is well browned.
Add the pureed tomatoes, wine, beef stock, milk and bay leaves. Stir.
Cover and bring to a slow simmer.
Simmer very gently, stirring occasionally for 3 to 4 hours. If you feel you need to add more beef stock, that's fine but you may want to turn down the heat if the liquid is boiling away too rapidly. A slow simmer is important here.
The liquid should be almost completely gone at the end and the meat sauce will be quite thick. Stir in the Parmesan or Romano cheese.
Serve over or tossed with cooked pasta topped with lots of freshly grated Parmesan or Romano cheese.
Recipe Notes
Nutritional values are for the sauce alone.
The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.