This recipe is from The Food Nanny.

The name Bolognese means a thick, full-bodied meat sauce that’s a staple of Bologna in Northern Italy. You do need to plan ahead as this recipe needs to simmer for a few hours. Once you try this, it will be hard to go back to a plain old meat sauce! 

Ingredients:

  • 3 T olive oil
  • 1 small yellow onion, minced
  • 1 large carrot, peeled and finely shredded (about 1/2 cup)
  • 1 large stalk to celery, finely diced
  • 1 tsp. course sea salt (I use Gray Sea Salt)
  • 1 tsp. ground pepper
  • 1 (6 oz. ) can of tomato paste
  • 1 lb of ground beef
  • 1 lb of ground pork
  • 1 cup red wine
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 3 (14.5 oz) cans of diced tomatoes, undrained
  • 1 lb uncooked spaghetti
  • grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

  1. Heat the oil in large Dutch oven pot over medium heat. Stir in the onion, carrot, celery, and salt. Cook stirring until the onion is soft, about 5 minutes.
  2. Stir in the tomato paste and cook another 5 minutes. Let the tomato paste stick slightly to the pan and become a little bit brown to provide a rich flavor.
  3. Crumble in the meat and continue cooking, stirring to break it up until all the meat is lightly browned, about 10 minutes.
  4. Pour in the wine and cook until the liquid has evaporated (about 4 -5 min.)
  5. Add the tomatoes into the meat mixture and add the bay leaves and pepper. Bring to a boil. Decrease the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is a rich, dark red color (2 – 3 hours). You can add water if the sauce becomes too thick.
  6. About 30 minutes before serving, cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain the pasta, reserving 1 cup of the pasta water.
  7. When the sauce is done cooking, remove the bay leaves and add the pasta. Stir to coat the pasta with the sauce and cook until bubbly (a few minutes). Add some of the pasta water as necessary (helps the sauce stick to the pasta) for the desired consistency. Remove from the heat and stir in the cheese to taste. Season with additional salt and pepper if desired.
  8. Transfer the pasta mixture to a large pasta bowl and add additional cheese and fresh parsley.