Ingredients

The following ingredients have 5 Servings
  • About 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO)
  • About 2 tablespoons butter for sauce
  • plus a few pats to toss with pasta
  • 1 onion
  • finely chopped
  • 1 rib celery with leafy tops
  • finely chopped
  • 1 carrot
  • finely chopped or grated
  • 2 fat cloves garlic
  • chopped
  • 1 pound ground beef
  • ½ pound ground veal
  • ½ pound ground pork
  • Salt and finely ground black pepper
  • 1 bay leaf
  • Herb bundle of parsley
  • sage
  • thyme
  • a few stems of each
  • tied
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • Freshly grated nutmeg
  • about ⅛ teaspoon
  • 1 cup white wine
  • One 15-ounce can crushed Italian tomatoes
  • 2 cups
  • 2 cups chicken stock
  • 2 cups beef stock
  • A chunk of rind of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
  • plus 1 cup and more at table to serve
  • 1 pound pasta spaghetti
  • chitarra (square
  • guitar-string spaghetti) or bucatini
  • about 500 grams

Instruction

  • In a Dutch oven, heat EVOO, 2 turns of the pot, over medium to medium-high heat, add butter to oil and when it foams, add onion, celery, and carrot, and cook, partially covered, 5-7 minutes to soften
  • Add garlic, stir, add ground meats and season with salt and finely ground black pepper
  • Break up the ground meats until they lose their pink color, then add bay, herbs, milk, season with a little freshly grated nutmeg and reduce heat to low simmer
  • Let milk absorb into meat completely, then add wine and let it absorb completely
  • Stir tomatoes into sauce, reduce heat to low, and simmer a few hours, low and slow
  • Meanwhile, heat stock or water with a chunk of rind to simmer, reduce heat to low
  • When the sauce looks like it may be drying out, add a few ladles of the warm liquid to moisten it, keeping the bolognese at a low bubble
  • To serve, remove bay leaf and herb bundle
  • If need be, add water to your stock blend to keep the sauce at bubble for at least 3 hours
  • Cook pasta in 6 quarts salted water about a minute, minute and a half less than the package directions
  • Reserve a half a mug full of starchy cooking water if you have used all of your stock or Parm-infused warm water
  • Drain pasta or remove from water with spider
  • Toss pasta with a few pats of butter and combine with sauce and a little stock or reserved water if necessary
  • Pass grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese at table