Cozy Cold-Weather Bolognese
TL;DR: Brown beef and pork, combine with chopped vegetables, and cook for 20 minutes. Deglaze pan, add remaining sauce ingredients, and cook for 45 minutes more. As the sauce cooks, boil pasta, grate cheese, and chop parsley for serving.
- 4 tablespoons butter (1/2 stick)
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 pound ground pork
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt plus more to taste
- 2 small red onions diced
- 1 large carrot diced
- 2 ribs celery diced
- 1 (any color) bell pepper stemmed, seeded, and diced
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 6 tablespoons tomato paste (3 oz)
- 1 28 oz. can tomatoes crushed or diced
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 parmesan rind (see note)
- 1 pound pasta of your choice such as tagliatelle (traditional) or orecchiette (pictured)
- grated parmesan for serving
- chopped flat leaf parsley for serving
Note: The white wine deglazes the pan, meaning it gets the delicious brown bits into the sauce instead of letting them burn.
Note: I make a lighter, warm- weather version of this by substituting finely chopped cauliflower for half the meat;
I add the cauliflower with the other vegetables in Step 2. It is still lovely and hearty without sitting quite so heavily in your tummy.
Note: The parmesan rind adds salty richness to the sauce. If you don’t have one, just add
1 extra teaspoon of salt in Step 4.