Bolognese sauce is a classic Italian sauce for pasta made with ground meat such as beef or pork. It is slow cooked with a soffritto of onions, carrots, and celery, tomatoes, and cream to give it a creamy texture. Pronounced “bow-luh-nez,” the sauce comes from the Bologna region of Italy, hence the name.
INGREDIENTS:
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 large carrot, finely chopped
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 kg ground beef, (or do 50/50 with ground pork)
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 cup dry red wine
800g marinara sauce, (or use canned peeled tomatoes, hand crushed)
70g tomato puree
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup bone broth
1/2 cup heavy cream, optional
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
Method:
Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil and butter in a stockpot, over medium high heat, until the butter is melted. Add onion, carrots, and celery, and sauté until softened and beginning to caramelise. This is called Soffritto in Mediterranean cooking. If you have time you can do the low heat method, but doing it over medium-high heat still gives great results. (Soffritto is a mixture of slowly cooked carrots, onions and celery, used as a base to add flavor to sauces, soups and stews. The vegetables are roughly chopped into very small pieces and cooked in olive oil over low heat for anywhere between 30 minutes to an hour, or more).
Add the garlic and continue to sauté until fragrant. Remove the soffritto from the pot and set aside.
Add more olive oil, if needed. Add the ground beef to the pot. Fry until well browned. Break up any lumps. Season with salt and pepper. Don’t stir too often, allow the meat to caramelise.
Return the soffritto to the pot. Add the red wine and deglaze the pan, scraping all the browned bits stuck to the bottom. Cook until the wine is mostly evaporated.
Stir in the oregano, thyme, Worcestershire sauce and tomato puree.
Add the bone broth (or beef stock) and marinara sauce. (If you don’t have marinara sauce, use canned peeled tomatoes, broken up by hand to leave the tomatoes chunky). Bring to a boil and then lower the heat to a simmer.
Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, for at least 1 hour or until the liquids have reduced and the sauce is thick.
Stir in heavy cream and parmesan cheese. Stir vigorously to emulsify. Taste for seasoning and adjust salt and pepper, if necessary.
Serve, tossed with a keto pasta.
For a video version of the recipe:
https://youtu.be/8HW1bJ3Fzck
Dining and Cooking