Balsamic Bolognese Recipes

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.

MOM'S SPAGHETTI BOLOGNESE

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a rolling boil. Cook the spaghetti in the boiling water until cooked through yet firm to the bite, about 12 minutes; drain.
• Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Cook the bacon in the oil until crisp, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir the onion, celery, carrot, and oregano into the bacon; continue cooking until the vegetables begin to soften, another 8 to 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Crumble the ground beef into the vegetable mixture; cook and stir until the beef is completely cooked and no longer pink, 8 to 10 minutes.
• Pour the balsamic vinegar over the ground beef mixture; allow to simmer until the liquid evaporates, about 5 minutes. Stir the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, and sugar into the ground beef mixture; bring the mixture to a boil, season with salt and black pepper, and remove from heat. Stir the fresh basil into the mixture.
• Ladle the sauce over the cooked spaghetti. Top with Parmesan cheese to serve.

SLOW-COOKER BOLOGNESE

Steps:

• Spray 5- to 6-quart slow cooker with cooking spray. In 12-inch skillet, cook sausage, beef, onions, carrots and garlic over medium-high heat 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until sausage and beef are thoroughly cooked; drain.
• In slow cooker, stir together meat mixture, tomatoes, tomato paste, vinegar, brown sugar, salt, pepper and pepper flakes.
• Cover; cook on Low heat setting 8 hours.
• About 15 minutes before serving, cook and drain spaghetti as directed on package. Serve meat mixture over spaghetti. Sprinkle individual servings with cheese and basil.

RAGU BOLOGNESE

Steps:

• Heat olive oil and butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Saute onion, celery and carrots until soft. Add veal, pork, beef and pancetta, and cook until evenly brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Pour in milk, and cook until liquid has evaporated, about 15 minutes. Stir in tomato sauce and beef broth. Cover, and simmer 2 1/2 hours.

BALSAMIC BRUSCHETTA

Steps:

• In a bowl, toss together the tomatoes, basil, Parmesan cheese, and garlic. Mix in the balsamic vinegar, olive oil, kosher salt, and pepper. Serve on toasted bread slices.

PORK BOLOGNESE

Steps:

• In a large Dutch oven or heavy pot, cook bacon over medium heat until fat is released, 5 minutes. Add onion, carrot, and celery; cook until soft, 6 minutes. Raise heat to medium-high; add pork and cook, breaking up meat with a wooden spoon, until browned, 7 minutes. Add tomato paste; cook until pork is coated, 4 minutes.
• Add wine; cook until reduced by three-fourths. Add 1 cup milk; cook until reduced by half. Add tomato sauce, broth, bay leaf, thyme, 2 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Simmer, stirring occasionally, 1 hour. Stir in 1/4 cup milk. Serve sauce over pasta, topped with cheese.

REALLY RICH SPAGHETTI BOLOGNESE - 'GOODFELLAS' STYLE

Steps:

• Fry onions briskly in a little oil.
• Add mince and fry at high heat until brown.
• (remove fat from pan).
• Add the tomato puree and drop the heat to medium.
• Stir in the sun dried tomato paste.
• Add salt.
• Add pepper.
• Add garlic.
• Add red wine.
• Add mustard.
• Simmer for 15 minutes.
• Chop bacon into little pieces the size of croutons and fry in a little oil in a small frying pan until cooked.
• Add bacon to bolognese.
• Add chopped raw celery (no need to boil it).
• Add brown sugar.
• Simmer on low heat for 1 hour.
• Serve with your favorite pasta.

BALSAMIC BOLOGNESE

Steps:

• Boil water for pasta. Heat olive oil 1 min. Add meat, onion, carrot, celery, and garlic. Cook 8 min. Add wine. Cook 3 min. Add tomatoes, vinegar, basil, cayenne, thyme, parsley, marjoram, bay leaf, arugula, half&half, and oregano. Bring to a boil and simmer 25 mins. Add pasta to boiling water after 15 mins of simmering. Stir pasta into sauce and top with pepper and parmesan.