What’s For Dinner: Authentic Bolognese Sauce

I’ve been cooking up a storm this past week. Meal prepping, menu planning – the works! And it feels {and tastes} fabulous. One of my favorite meals ever is pappardelle bolognese:

{which is combination of ground beef, ground pork and pancetta in a classic Italian sauce, tossed with wide pasta noodles known as pappardelle.}

One of the restaurants here in Fairmount makes an amazing version, with a glorious sunny side up egg on top. I always want it because it tastes amazing, but with this #momlife we can’t just pick up and head out to dinner anytime we like! So I decided to attempt to make a version of one of my favorite meals at home {and it turned out amazing!}

Don’t get me wrong, this sauce is delicious but it does take time – 4 hours to simmer – so it’s not something you can just whip up in a hurry, but it’s made with love {and lots of finely dicing veggies} which makes the sauce so yummy.

Here’s how it all went down, add it to your menu this week and let me know what you think!

1- Hear 2 tbsp. olive oil and 1/4 cup butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. When melted add in 1 large yellow onion, finely and evenly diced, 4 small carrots finely diced, 4 stalks celery heart finely diced and 4 garlic cloves, very finely diced along with a pinch of salt. Sauté for 5 minutes or until vegetables are soft.

2 – Add in 4.5 oz. diced pancetta, stir in and cook for another 10 minutes until pancetta is golden.

3- In a separate pan cook 2 lb. lean ground meat { I did a mix of beef and Italian sausage} After meat is fully cooked, continue to caramelize meat evenly so it becomes crispy in spots {will deglaze later} – watch over pan for 10-15 minutes, as you don’t want to burn the meat. Add in 1 cup dry white wine to deglaze and stir to combine until the wine evaporates – then add in vegetable mixture and stir.

4- Next add in 2 cups of milk, an entire can of diced San Marzano tomatoes {include the liquid} and 1 cup of beef stock. Top it off with a little salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil and then put on the lowest heat possible to simmer, slowly, half-covered for 4 hours. Stir once in a while and adjust the salt seasoning as you like.