Bolognese Meat Sauce

27 Reviews
88% would make this recipe again

Named after the sumptuous cooking style of Bologna (in Italy), the "Ragù Bolognese" [baw-law-NYEH-seh] is a thick, full-bodied meat and vegetable sauce, enhanced with wine and milk or cream. It is a versatile sauce, that may be used over pasta, as a filling in lasagne or cannelloni, and in many other ways.

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Ingredients

??? onions, finely chopped ???
??? carrots, finely chopped ???
??? garlic, finely chopped ???
??? celery, finely chopped ???
??? bacon, finely chopped ???
??? butter, unsalted ???
??? olive oil ???
??? ground beef, lean, or medium-lean ???
??? milk, partly skimmed, 2% ???
??? white wine ???
??? canned tomatoes (diced) ???
??? tomato paste ???
??? dried oregano ???
??? salt [optional] ???
??? ground pepper to taste [optional] ???

Before you start

A food processor would make chopping the vegetables easier.

Method

  1. Finely chop the onion, carrot, garlic, celery, and bacon.
  2. Heat the oil and butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the vegetables and bacon, then cook until softened, 5-6 min, with some stirring. Add the meat, then salt and pepper to taste. Cook, stirring frequently and breaking up the meat with a spoon until it loses its pink colour and starts browning, about 7-8 min.
  3. Raise the heat to high, then add the milk. Cook, stirring frequently, until the liquid has evaporated, about 3 min. Add the wine, then cook, stirring frequently, until the wine has evaporated, about 3 min.
  4. Stir in the diced tomatoes, tomato paste, and oregano, then cover and simmer gently over low heat for at least 1 h. Stir occasionally and add some water as needed to prevent the sauce from becoming too dry. Season with additional salt and pepper. It is important to simmer all the ingredients until the sauce is thick and the beef very tender. (If you are using a pressure cooker, the cooking time is reduced to 15 min from the time it starts to spatter).

Observations

The sauce can be stored up to 1 week in the refrigerator or up to 2 months in the freezer.

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Reviews

27 Reviews (26 with rating only) 88% would make this recipe again

My Notes

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This space is reserved for your personal notes on the recipe. These notes are private and will only be visible to you. Here's an example of what these notes could say for a given recipe:

  • I replaced oregano by rosemary and it turned out great
  • use my large pan with the copper bottom
  • leave under the grill 3 minutes instead of 1 to get a golden crust

This recipe is in the following categories

Beef | Sauces & Dips | Braise/Stew | Italian

Top Reviews

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february 27, 2009 | I would make this recipe again

Very nice meat sauce. I expected it to be more 'saucy' and have more of a tomato base to it, and I may increase the amount of tomatoes next time, but all in all it had very nice flavour and I will make it again.

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