I know what you’re thinking. How does a two-hour bolognese recipe fall into my new lifestyle of “simplicity?” It’s got multiple pans, prep work and is not ready in under 3o minutes.
Well, let me explain. This bolognese may not be the quickest recipe, but it’s still easy, and, more importantly, not easily messed up. I’ve made this dish several times over the past couple years so it takes little in the way of brainpower for me to make and share with you all (my main goal these days is to use as little brainpower as possible).
After talking about the best ever roasted potatoes, I thought, what are some of the other “best ever” dishes I’ve had? This bolognese came rushing to the forefront of my mind. I’ve adapted it over the years from Geoffrey Zakarian’s Percatelli with Bolognese recipe. I’ve made it for multiple dinner parties and reveled in leftovers for weeks. I love that it’s impressive enough to share with friends but comforting and simple enough to make on a Sunday night and cram down my gullet for dinner every night the following week.
That’s where the simplicity comes in. You can double, triple, even quadruple, the recipe (though you’d have to have a pretty big pot) and then eat this pasta for weeks. You can freeze half or bring it to a potluck. Speaking of, this is the perfect Christmas Eve meal for your family. Check out How To Throw an Italian Dinner Party for all the yummy goodies you can make with this pasta to impress the fam.
Geoffrey’s original recipe is amaze-balls but it takes even longer than this recipe, cooking both the meat and vegetables separately and slowly over medium heat for about 20-30 minutes and then doing a two-hour simmer. I’ve turned the heat up to medium high and reduced the browning time by half. To me, it doesn’t make a huge difference for the recipe. It actually gives it a bit more flavor because you’re getting more deeply browned bits of meat from the higher heat.
By making little cuts here and there, I was able to trim the recipe time down by almost an hour and a half. I also made some healthy adaptations – subbing in low-sodium chicken stock, nixing the milk, trading in the skirt steak for extra-lean ground beef and making the cheese an optional garnish. When I’m looking to go all out fancy, I buy this luxurious porcini tagliatelle pasta from the market down the street. It’s killer with this sauce. But when I’m looking for a healthier weeknight meal, I use a wheat-free pasta. This time I used a gluten-free tagliatelle and it worked perfectly.
Whatever pasta you decide to use, I just know this will become your favorite bolognese too. Can you say, face plant?
My Favorite Bolognese Pasta (Adapted from Geoffrey Zakarian’s Percatelli with Bolognese)
Leave off the cheese garnish for a completely dairy-free dish!
- 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (divided)
- 4 ounces pancetta (diced)
- 1/2 cup dried porcini (soaked, drained and chopped)
- 4 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 medium onion (finely diced)
- 1 large carrot (finely diced)
- 1 celery stalk (finely diced)
- 1 pound ground pork
- 1 pound extra-lean ground beef
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
- 4 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1.5 cups red wine
- 2 cups low-sodium chicken stock
- 1 large can San Marzano crushed tomatoes (28 ounces)
- 4 teaspoons chopped fresh basil (plus torn leaves for garnish)
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
- 1-2 pounds of your favorite pasta (I recommend a tagliatelle, rigatoni or penne rather than a fine pasta like spaghetti or angel hair as the fine pasta won’t stand up to the sauce)
- Pecorino Romano cheese (for garnish)
- Heat two tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet set over medium-high heat. Add the pancetta, porcini, garlic, onions and carrots. Cook 6-7 minutes, or until lightly browned, stirring frequently so the vegetables don’t burn or stick. Deglaze the pan with a 1/2 cup red wine.
- Heat two tablespoons olive oil in a dutch oven set over medium-high heat. Add the ground meat and cook for approximately 10 minutes, stirring frequently so the meat browns evenly. Salt and pepper liberally. Then, add the tomato paste and saute for 2 minutes.
- Next, add the vegetables and pancetta to the pot with the meat. Then, add the remaining 1 cup red wine to deglaze the pot. Scrape all the bits and pieces that might accumulate and reduce by half, about 5 minutes. Then, add the chicken stock and crushed tomatoes and simmer very gently for 1.5 hours or until the liquid is absorbed.
- Adjust seasonings to taste (I added a little more salt and pepper at this point). Finish the sauce with the chopped basil and thyme.
- You have two options for serving: (1) You can add the cooked pasta and 1/2 cup pasta water directly the pot of bolognese sauce and simmer for 2 minutes to incorporate the sauce into the pasta (my preferred method) or (2) You can add the pasta to a plate and spoon the sauce on top of the pasta (Alasdair’s preferred method and the method you see in my photos).
- Garnish with the ground Pecorino Romano (optional), torn basil and a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil on top.
Yummy! There is nothing in this world better than a great pasta dish! This looks amazing – love the fresh herbs and wine and pancetta. Do you know that I actually bought pancetta the other day for the first time in 5 years? lol. It’s because I keep seeing it in your photos and I decided I had to have some!
I will make this over the holidays and triple the recipe and eat it morning, noon and night! Will shoot a couple pics when I do and share them 🙂
Would love to see some pics if you make it! I am a little obsessed with pancetta (and prosciutto)! My friend Kim is like “I always know when it’s your recipe because there’s pancetta!”
This looks amazing! Definitely making this over the holiday break. Thanks for sharing. P.S. I love pancetta too – especially with brussels sprouts 🙂
Thanks Melinda! Let me know how it turns out! I actually have two Brussels sprouts and pancetta recipes on my site! You should do a search for them. 🙂
So I had pasta dream last night when i saw the photo on G+! Bolognese is always a classic comfort food for me and I can eat it every day! I really need to try out this recipe when I read down until the word ” porcini”. Wow, this recipe is super fancy than the one I used to cook and it’s perfect for the holiday season! 🙂
Thanks Maggie!!
Michelle, these photos …. ahhhhh, they are stunning! I don’t know how you managed to photograph bolognese so well, but I’m all ears! I’m totally trying out your recipe btw although it might be too pretty to eat! Pinned!
Thanks Justine!! I actually was unsure about these pictures because I overexposed them a bit using the aperture priority setting on my camera. I’m glad you like them! I find that overexposing them a bit works well for some pictures but not for all.
Hi! I’m making this right now. Am I supposed to simmer with the lid on or off? You probably won’t answer this in time, in which case it will have been cooked with the lid ajar.
Hi Kristin! I usually simmer with the lid off but partially covered works too!
It’s Halloween night and I decided to “throw this together” in between trick-or-treaters. My house smells amazing!!! Even better than a spiced pumpkin candle!!! But one thing I think I missed somewhere was…..where and when to add the celery! I’m assuming it was supposed to be added with all the other chopped and diced veggies but it wasn’t listed above and so, mine is sans celery. I’m quite sure this little detail will not make or break the dish and I cannot wait to dive in!!!!