Ragu Bolognese

After our visit to Italy in 2006, we realized how varied the cooking is in the different Italian regions. In Italy, there is no such thing as "Italian Food." There is the cooking of Genoa, of Bologna, of Tuscany or Naples, but they are all different. Much of the Italian food in the U.S. is based on the southern Italian cooking of Naples and Sicily, since this is where most Italians emigrated from at the turn of the last century. My cooking has the same influences, because my great-grandparents came from Castelfranci in Naples and Calascibetta in Sicily.

I grew up with my Grandmother's spaghetti sauce (or "gravy", as she called it), and that is basically the sauce that I've always made. It is a Neopolitan-style tomato-based sauce. After visiting Bologna and tasting the incredible food in this northern city, I wanted to expand beyond what I learned from my grandmother.

Bolognese sauce in America is frequently a generic name for a tomato sauce with ground beef. In Bologna, however, it means something entirely different. There are many opinions about the "proper" ingredients for this sauce, as is often the case with regional dishes. This is based on a Mario Batali recipe:



1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 carrots, finely diced
2 medium onions finely diced
2 ribs celery, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, finely diced
1 lb. veal, ground
1 lb. pork, ground
1/4 lb. pancetta, finely chopped
1 6 oz. can tomato paste
1 cup whole milk
1 cup dry white wine
1 tsp. fresh thyme
salt and pepper

In a dutch oven, saute the onions, garlic, celery and carrots over medium heat until the vegetables are translucent and soft, but not browned. Turn heat to medium high and add the veal, pork, and pancetta. Stir frequently until meat is cooked through. Add the tomato paste, milk, wine and thyme, and simmer over medium-low heat for 1 1/2 hours. Season with salt and pepper.



Reserve some of the pasta cooking water. Mix sauce and drained pasta in pan over medium heat. Stir until pasta is evenly coated. Add reserved pasta water to reach desired consistency. Serve with fresh Parmigiano Reggiano.

Notes: This is a great meat sauce. It has a very rich flavor and fabulous aroma. It was a simple dish to prepare, and I put away a jar of it in the freezer for future enjoyment. I had read similar recipes before, but milk seemed like such an unusual ingredient that it always scared me off. When I made this recipe, however, I was surprised by how easily the milk incorporated into the sauce. There was no curdling or scalding, and the finished sauce was not "milky" in any way. There is barely any tomato in this sauce, which is a big departure from the tomato-based sauces from southern Italy. I served it with dried fettucine, but I want to go even more authentic next time with homemade tagliatelle.