Bolognese Pasta Sauce
Actually it’s called ragu alla Bolognese. It’s a long-cooked meat sauce from Bologna, in the northern region of Emilia-Romagna, the culinary heart of Italy.
The ragu is traditionally served with tagliatelle in Bologna, a flat pasta a bit narrower than fettuccine. The pasta’s shape is perfect to maximize the sauce captured on its surface.
Spinach tagliatelle is the favorite in Bologna. I grabbed fresh spinach pasta at Molinari’s Deli on Columbus so I could focus on the ragu.
The ragu has to simmer at least 3 1/2 hours, even longer. I like to make it Sunday morning to eat for lunch or dinner. The aroma will fill your house all day.
You’re building layers of flavor here. Saute minced onion, celery, carrot and pancetta in EVOO and butter. Add the meat and mix them together. Cover it all with wine. Cook off the wine and add milk and nutmeg. Cook those off too, then add the tomatoes and simmer, simmer, simmer. You end up with a thick brick-red ragu with tons of flavor.
When the sauce is done, boil some well-salted water and cook the fresh tagiatelle. That will take about 3 minutes. Put half the sauce in a large bowl. Drain the pasta when al dente and put it in the bowl and mix well with the ragu. Place a serving of pasta on a plate and top with a big spoonful of the ragu. Sprinkle with grated parmigiano reggiano and eat!
The fresh tagliatelle is silky and coated with the ragu. The long simmer intensifies the complexity of the sauce and melds all the flavors together. The dusting of parmigiano reggiano completes this homage to Bologna.
This ragu is for a pound of tagliatelle, fettuccine or your favorite pasta.
When I don’t have time to make my own, one of my favorites in North Beach is Graziano’s ragu alla Bolognese at his Caffe Puccini on Columbus.
Bolognese Sauce (Ragu alla Bolognese)
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1/8 pound pancetta
- 1/2 onion
- 1 stalk celery
- 1 carrot
- 3 tablespoons EVOO
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 cups canned San Marzano tomatoes
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
- sea salt to taste
- grated parmigiano reggiano
Cooking Directions
- Roughly chop the pancetta, onion, carrot and celery and put in the bowl of a food processor.
- Pulse until you get a fine mince.
- Put the EVOO and butter in an enameled pot and melt the butter over medium-low heat.
- When the butter is melted raise the heat to medium-high and add the minced pancetta and vegetables and the bay leaf.
- Saute until the onion is transluscent, about 3 minutes.
- Add the tomato paste and mix well. Saute until the tomato paste darkens in color.
- Add the ground beef. Be sure to break it all up as it cooks. You don\\\'t want any big clumps of meat.
- Mix the beef well with the vegetables and saute until the beef loses its raw red color. Do not brown the meat or it will toughen.
- Add the wine and stir well. Cook until the wine evaporates, stirring to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom of the pan.
- When the wine has fully evaporated, add the milk and nutmeg. Cook until the milk evaporates, stirring to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom of the pan.
- Add the tomatoes.
- Reduce to low cover and simmer slowly for 2 and a half hours. Stir occasionally to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom of pot.
- Uncover and simmer slowly for at least another hour.
- The liquid should have reduced by more than half in volume and the ragu should be dark red and quite thick.
- Serve over pasta immediately topped with a good sprinkle of grated parmigiano.
Gianni,
Big fan of yours. I noticed that you don’t have a video version of this recipe, but I think it would be very beneficial for you to create one for your channel as bolognese sauce is one of the most searched for Italian recipes on the internet and if you had one, it would draw in a lot more new viewers and potential suscribers. You have a wonderful channel, and I think simply having a video version of the most famous and internationally known italian dish would bring more initial notice to your videos. Anyways, it’s just a suggestion. Keep up the good work and thank you!
Regards,
Jeff
Hi Gianni
Your videos and your recipes are fantastic! I’ve been looking for authentic Italian recipes for so long and finally I have found them. You are the real deal.
Can you please make a video on how to perfectly cook this Bolognese Sauce. Thanks for all the videos and please keep them coming.
If we double this recipe, should we just double all the ingredients, including the wine? Do we need to extend the cooking time? What are your suggestions?
Ciao Norm. Yes double the recipe across the board. It might not take twice the cooking time to thicken the sauce.
Happy Holidays. Buon appetito!
Gianni,
If you take requests once in a while, PLEASE consider doing a Pasta e Fagioli (“pasta fazool”) demo.
There are SO many bad pasta fazool recipes on the Internet. There’s even one that calls for V8 Vegetable juice, if you can believe it. YUCK! (It comes as no surprise it is purportedly derived from the one served at Olive Garden restaurants.)
Please, set the record straight on pasta fazool and show us how it’s done.
Ciao.
Olive Garden, oh no. I’ll cook up my mother’s pasta fazool soon. Here’s my rant about those chain restaurants. https://www.gianni.tv/my-basil-pesto-gnocchi-is-too-green/
Hey Gianni, I’ve watched all your videos many times. How about you make some new videos? I’m looking forward to see them!
Thank you for your recipes and videos. Your continued encouragement to use only a few and only the best ingredients has certainly made a big difference in my own cooking. While I’m sure you must sometimes question whether you should continue repeating the same.basic principles again and again, let me reassure you of the necessity. Many of us really are that dense. I’ll be making this one tomorrow. Thank you again,
Peter
Ciao Peter. Use the best ingredients you can afford and you’re 95% to making a fantastic dish. Italian cooking is simple. Sometimes the best ingredient is the one you don’t include. I hope the ragu all a Bolognese turns out well. I’ve got some ragu left over so I’ll make it again today. Buon appetito!