The Best Bolognese Ever
(If you don’t see text on each photo, turn your mobile device sideways.)
A few years ago my family spent 6 weeks in Tuscany, Italy. We were traveling with young children on a tight budget, so we ate at home almost every meal. I wanted to prepare some authentic Italian dishes during our sojourn and my research led me to this recipe for the official Tuscan ragù.
Ragù is Italian for a meaty tomato sauce served with pasta. In America, we call this type of dish bolognese. In Italy, you only ever use this word to refer to a ragù made in the region of Bologna. (The Italians are acutely particular about their food culture.) Ragù is so deeply Italian that each region of the country has its own signature recipe, and this is the official one of Tuscany. I’m calling it bolognese, because I’m American, writing in America, and this is how we’ve adopted the word.
I was raised on spaghetti and meat sauce, perhaps you were too. This is another level. It is simple, yet elegant. It’s healthy and hearty. It’s easy to make and flexible—ingredients can be adjusted based on what you have in stock and it will still dazzle. You basically can’t mess it up. It costs about $10 to prepare for my family of five. I make it for dinner twice a month. I don’t even serve it with a salad or bread—just one whopping bowl of bolognese with fresh parmesan to sprinkle on top.
Don’t get stuck in the details of the recipe. You can use more or less of any ingredient. If you’re out of carrots or celery, you can leave one of them out—or make it without either and it would still be a showstopper. The secret is to give the sauce as much time as possible to simmer at the end, this makes it velvety. Ideally, it will simmer 4 hours. I made this last night and was only able to give it 45 minutes to simmer, it was still delectable. Be free as you prepare this.
The traditional version is made with ground beef. Sometimes I make it with ground turkey, to change things up. That’s what I did last night, you’ll be able to tell in the photos that the meat is lighter in color.
I thought about doing a ragù tour of Italy, trying each region’s signature recipe. But why bother? I don’t love to cook and everyone under my roof cheers when I make this meal, so I never embarked on the journey. I also don’t enjoy following detailed recipes, so I’ve shared this in the easiest-to-follow way I could think of. Let me know if you like the format of photo slides with instruction captions and an ingredients list.
Ingredients List:
Spaghetti - one package
Bacon - 3 thick cut slices or 5 thin
Ground beef or ground turkey - 1 or 1.5 pounds, depending on how meaty you want your sauce
Carrot, celery, onion - about a half cup of each
Tomato paste - half a can
Red wine - half cup
Milk - whole is best, 2% second best
Olive Oil
Salt and pepper
Parmesan cheese
My favorite way to eat a bowl of bolognese is topped with fresh basil leaves, a pinch of red pepper flakes, a spoonful of fresh parm, and a drizzle of olive oil. Delizioso.
Casual family dinner.
My 11-year old just walked up behind me and said:
You’re telling them how to make bolognese? You’re giving away the recipe to the world? The Best Bolognese Ever. (pause) That is true.
I’m adding the recipe slides here at the end as well, if it’s easiest to follow along this way. Let me know if you have any questions at all. Please comment with your thoughts on the recipe!
