The Bolognese for Unraveling Girls
You ever wake up and think, “all I want today is a big ass bowl of noodles and meat sauce”? We’re all unraveling and some days, the only thing holding me together is comfort food and the same episode of The Office that I’ve seen six times. And just barely. I want every experience I have to feel like a hug from a familiar friend. If you’re reading this and thinking “wow, she needs to examine more deeply her impulse to seek comfort in food and television”, then get out of here. There is a damn pandemic! But if you’re reading this and thinking “man, yes, give me spaghetti and Michael Scott,” then please, pull up a chair.
Anything I’ve learned about Italian food is from Lidia Bastianich. She is the queen. When I was craving a really great meat sauce and a bowl of noodles, I of course went looking for Lidia’s bolognese recipe. Lidia’s recipe calls for beef but I don’t eat beef so I swapped it out with ground turkey. I also like a little bit of heat to balance the concentrated sweetness of canned tomatoes so I added some sambal olek, the Indonesian chili-vinegar sauce. It sounds a bit odd but it adds a more interesting dimension of heat than regular chili flakes, thanks to the vinegar notes. I also added in some mushrooms into my dish for a sauce with more depth - this is not always traditional but they are meaty, earthy, and a secret serving of vegetables, so why not?
Italian bolognese is meant to be served with a flat, long pasta, usually tagliatelle. That is less common in the US and most red sauces here are served with spaghetti. In fact, I was trying to find tagliatelle for this recipe but didn’t have any luck, so you know, pandemic spaghetti it was. It is true that spaghetti is not the best shape for this and when you finish the pasta itself, you’ll be left with extra sauce to just spoon into your mouth but…that’s a problem I’m willing to live with.
And lastly, if you can, cook this sauce for at least 45 mins-1 hour - I’ve cooked it for less and I’ve cooked it for more. This is absolutely a sauce that is better the longer you cook it. And let’s face it, what are you doing anyway? May as well nurture this sauce to become its best self.
Serves 6-8
Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 cup diced yellow onions
1-2 carrots diced, about 1 cup
2 stalks celery, diced
8-10 diced mushrooms, baby bella or button
4-5 cloves of garlic, finely diced
8 oz ground pork
8 oz ground turkey
1/2 cup red wine
2 tbsp sambal olek (1 if you don’t want too spicy)
1 28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes, crushed by hand
1/2 cup milk
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Parmesan rind (optional)
1-2 cups water or as needed
salt and pepper to taste
Fresh basil to serve
Cooked pasta to serve
Method
Heat a large pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Add the oil and add the tomato paste. Cook down for 3-4 mins. Next, add the onions, carrots, celery, mushrooms, and a pinch of salt. Cook for 10 mins or until the onions are translucent and the vegetables have released some liquid.
Turn up the heat to medium-high and add the ground meat and diced garlic. Break up the meat with your spatula and cook for 10-12 mins, or until the liquid has mostly evaporated and the meat is no longer pink. Next, add the wine and cook until the wine has mostly evaporated about 3-4 mins.
Now add the sambal olek and canned tomatoes and stir in well. Let the flavors meld and cook together for 5 mins. Then, add the milk and nutmeg. Taste for salt and season as needed. Add in the Parmesan rind, if using, and cracked black pepper. Add in one cup of hot water and bring the sauce to a boil
Now, lower the heat to medium-low, and cook for 1 hour. Check 2-3 times in between, stirring the sauce and adding water as needed to keep the sauce at your desired consistency.
Toss with pasta and serve with lots of torn fresh basil.
