A cold winter morning yesterday, I was in the mood for some long simmering goodness on the stove. Checking my supplies and I decided on my take of a Bolognese sauce. It may not be perfectly authentic but it was darn good!
I have some pork shoulder bones with plenty of meat from sausage making this summer, vegetables- celery, carrots, garlic, onion, home canned tomatoes, also (not pictured) ground beef, a pinch of nutmeg, a little beef stock, and milk.
A little olive oil in a pot over medium high heat, season the pork bones with generous salt and pepper, and put in the pot to brown.
While pork browns, dice the vegetables. When the pork is browned, remove from pot and add vegetables.
Cook the vegetables until soft but not browned. Add the pork bones back to the pot. Add a cup of stock, 1 pint of tomato sauce, 1 pint of canned whole tomatoes. Bring to a boil, reduce heat cover loosely and simmer for 3 hours. Go take a nap or do a chore, the stock will perfume the house nicely.
Remove pork bones, remove meat, discarding any fat or gristle.
Run everything through the food mill with the biggest aperture disk. Conversely, you could have run all the vegetables through the food processor to begin with, but I like using my chef knife.
Return everything back to pot. Brown 1 lb of ground beef in pan. Drain and add to big pot.
You can see how the liquid has diminished
.
Simmer slowly for another 3 hours, stirring occasionally. Add a pinch of nutmeg and 1 cup of milk. Stir to incorporate. It has concentrated a great deal.
Prepare the pasta.
Toss pasta with some of the sauce. Plate and add a little more sauce, add some parmesan. Savor...
A long time in the making but rich and deeply satisfying.
Until next time, Eat Well & Keep Digging!
The Gastronomic Gardener
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