Bolognese Sauce - Authentically from Northern Italy!

There are many versions of Bolognese sauce available. Most of them are variations of meat/tomato sauce recipes. They come no where close to being the real thing. A real Bolognese should not be tomatoey or red! It is brown in color. My Nonna and Aunt in Italy made the real thing! The best Bolognese sauce! I loved it so much, I remember how she took great care in showing me how to make it. I was only twelve years old at the time, but I never forgot the ingredients. It was the measurements I gradually forgot over the years. So I've played and played with the recipe and I think I've managed to finally get it right. Here is my version! Enjoy!

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups diced Onion
3/4 cup diced Celery
2 1/2 lb Ground Beef or Veal or a mixture of both
3/4 cup Dry White Wine
1 1/2 cups Beef Stock
2 tbsp chopped Parsley
Parmigiano-Reggiano
3/4 cup diced Carrot
3 tbsp Tomato Paste
1 1/2 tbsp minced Garlic
1 cup milk
1 lb Pasta (cooked to al dente)
Olive Oil

ButterSalt & Pepper

Directions

Heat the olive oil and butter on medium until the butter is melted and blended. 

Stir in the chopped celery, carrot, onion, salt and pepper.
Cook until all the vegetables are nice and carmelized. 
Raise the temperature on the burner and then add all the meat,

Let it brown, approximately 5 to 10 minutes. 

Add the tomato paste and stir and blend it in. Let it cook for a few more minutes. 

Add garlic with wine and cook to reduce for several minutes.
Add the beef stock and turn heat down to low.
Cook, partly covered, and let the liquid evaporate. 
That's when to add the milk and let it simmer for 30 to 40 minutes or so. 
Add a touch more milk as the sauce reduces.
Stir in parsley.
Season with sea salt and pepper before serving.
It is traditionally served on tagliatelli pasta or penne - a hearty pasta that can bear the weight of the sauce.  

Garnish with the real parmiggiano/reggiano cheese and serve. 

Potato Gnocchi

Christmas will be here in two days. For my Christmas Eve menu, one of the dishes I'll be serving is Gnocchi. Here's my favourite tried and true recipe as my Christmas gift to you all! Buon Natale a tutti! 

In typical Italian style, my recipe will make enough to serve twelve. If this is too much, you can either half the recipe, or freeze some for another day! 

Ingredients:

6 pounds russet potatoes

4 cups all-purpose flour

2 large eggs

Pinch of salt

Directions:

Peel potatoes and then place them whole in a large pot.

Add cold water until they are all submerged. 

Boil the potatoes until they are soft, approximately 45 to  50 minutes. 

Drain and while they are still warm, pass them through a food mill or a ricer. 

Place the potatoes on a clean board or a clean kitchen counter. 

Make a well in the center of the potatoes and sprinkle with the flour. 

Place the egg and salt in the center of the well and, using a fork, stir the egg into the flour and potatoes. 

Bring the dough together, kneading gently until a ball is formed, and continue to knead for another 4 minutes, until the dough is dry to the touch. 

Cut some dough off the main ball and roll it into a dowel about 3/4-inch thick. 

Cut across the dowel into 1 inch long pieces.  

Flick each piece down the tines of a fork to form the traditional gnocchi shape. 

Repeat with the remaining dough.

When ready to serve the gnocchi, bring a minimum of  6 quarts of water to a boil. 

Add two tablespoons of salt. 

Drop the gnocchi into the boiling water and cook until they float. This will take about 4 to 5 minutes. 

With a large slotteed spoon, carefully remove them from the water and toss into a pan with your favourite sauce. Toss gently for a few seconds until coated. 

Mac and Cheese

Who doesn't love mac and cheese on a cold winter day.

12 ounces of cooked noodles
2 cups heavy cream
2 1/2 cups whole milk
2 teaspoons flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black peper
2 cups grated Velveeta or Asiago or Fontina or Provolone (you get the idea)
3/4 cup parmesan cheese
Parsley

Butter a 13 x 9 baking dish.  Mix all ingredients and toss onto pasta.  Sprinkle with more cheese on the top.

Try adding some ham, broccoli, peas, mixed veggies, or anything else you think would go well.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Pasta with Peas and Ham

This is one recipe that I make often. No matter what changes I make to it or what I add to it, it always tastes great.

1 medium chopped onion
4 cloves minced garlic
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Ham
Peas
14 cup butter
1 cup broth
Pasta

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil and butter
Add ham, peas, and broth. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until the pasta finishes cooking. Toss onto cooked pasta.

Lasagna alla Bolognese

My roots are Veneto from my father's side and Abruzzese from my mother's side. So most of the food I enjoyed as a child was Abruzzese. When I went to Italy as a young teenager, my father's mother cooked her bolognese sauce for me and I absolutely loved it. I also enjoyed lasagna alla bolognese at a relative's home near Vicenza. So Lasagna alla Bolognese became my all time favourite lasagna recipe.

Lasagna alla Bolognese

Ingredients:

An 8 ounce can minced plum tomatoes
1/2 pound ground beef
1/2 an onion, minced
A small carrot, minced
A 6-inch stalk of celery, minced
A few leaves of basil (if it’s in season), and a small bunch of parsley, minced
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 cup beef broth
2 cups grated Parmigiano
2 cups milk
2 1/2 tablespoons of flour
Olive oil
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Nutmeg, salt, and pepper to taste
A pound of store-bought lasagne, either fresh or dried

Preparation:To make the meat sauce, start by mincing the onion, carrot, and celery. Sauté the mixture in two tablespoons of olive oil in a heavy bottomed pan till the onion’s translucent, then add the meat and continue cooking till it’s browned. Add the parsley, basil, salt, pepper, and a pinch of nutmeg, red wine, and broth. Simmer over a low flame till the wine’s evaporated. Then thicken the sauce with a half tablespoon of flour, let cook for a few minutes, and add the canned tomatoes. Check the seasoning and simmer the sugo over a low flame, for at least a half hour.

Make a béchamel sauce by melting the butter and adding the remaining flour, stirring to keep lumps from forming. Cook until the flour begins to brown, then add the milk, a few drops at a time, stirring briskly to keep lumps from forming. Should they form anyways, remove the pot from the flames and stir them out before adding more milk. Add a pinch of grated nutmeg (optional) and continue cooking over a low flame till the sauce thickens somewhat. Set it aside.

Meanwhile, bring a pot of lightly salted water to boil, adding a tablespoon of oil to it to keep the sheets of pasta from sticking to each other. Butter an oven-proof dish while the first few sheets of pasta are cooking. Remove the pasta with a slotted strainer when it’s a little bit al dente. Drain it well and add some more sheets to the water. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 385 F (190 C).

Lay the first layer of pasta in the dish, following it with a layer of meat sauce, another layer of pasta, a layer of béchamel with cheese, and so on, till the pasta, sauce, and béchamel are used up. Go easy on the Parmigiano with the top layer, because it can become bitter as it browns. Heat the lasagne through in the oven and serve with more grated Parmigiano on the side.
Yield: 4-6 servings