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Although I offer you weekly recipes full of nutritious and delicious comfort food, I am by no means a chef. I like to think of myself as an enthusiastic cook. But this week I bring you the real deal! A beef bolognese by Ben the Butcher from Gambrel & Co, our neighborhood butcher.
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Todd Parsons Photography
Not only a butcher, Ben is a trained chef, was the executive chef at Bar Bambino in San Francisco and lived and worked in Italy. That means this bolognese is authentic and easy enough for the enthusiastic cooks out there like me.
When I asked Ben for a recipe, he stopped and made the thinking pose… “all of my recipes are in my head,” he said. Perfect, I thought, that’s just how I like to cook and share recipes on Food Foundation. The point is your bolognese may taste different and that’s OK. Try a little of this, a little of that, omit the spices you don’t like, add in the ones you do like, and soon enough it will taste just right.
This pot is giant, so I suggest you cook up a huge batch on the weekend and freeze a few dinners for some lazy future nights. Or, call all of your friends over and have them bring the wine. However you share this meal, be sure to celebrate the dish and use the best quality ingredients you can find.
Image may be NSFW.
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For those of you that like a recipe, here is what Ben put together for us. Use it like a guideline and like most Italian cooks, taste along the way!
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ground beef or 1 pound ground pork shoulder
- 3 ribs celery (chopped)
- 3 medium carrots (chopped)
- 2 large onions (chopped)
- 6 cloves garlic
- bouquet garni ( 1 bunch rosemary, bay leaf, 1 bunch thyme, 2 Tbsp peppercorn, wrapped in cheese cloth and tied)
- 3/4 bottle nice red wine (the other 1/4 is for sipping while preparing this aromatic dish)
- 1 quart chopped san marzano tomatoes
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a food processor, (in batches if you have a small one) pulse celery,carrot onion, and garlic until fine, almost paste like, creating what the Italians call sofritto
- Warm a shallow, but heavy bottom pan on stove, with preferably lard or olive oil until smoking. Add sofrtitto, and season heavily with salt and pepper, stirring occasionally until veggies are translucent and most of the water has evaporated and sofritto begins to stick to the bottom of pan.
- Then add beef (season with salt and pepper) and with wooden spoon break apart into small parts and stir once and awhile, until all beef has browned. (Brown beef equals flavor so do not rush this step!)
- Once all the beef is browned, add red wine, Bouquet garni and reduce until almost completely evaporated. Then add tomato and stir until all ingredients are combined. Turn heat to medium/low and allow sauce to simmer for three hours, adding 2 cups of water each time the sauce seems to be sticking or too thick to stir. (every 20 minutes or so).
- Once desired consistency and flavor are reached, check sauce for seasoning one last time, pour sauce into container and allow to cool in fridge over night. (You can serve the day of but like many great stews and sauces the flavorers really develop over night when allowed to macerate.)
- When you are ready to serve, cook your favorite pasta shape, reserving some of the water. While pasta is draining heat up necessary amount of Bolognese. When hot, add pasta, serve in a shallow bowl and grate some parmesano reggiano over the top.
- Bon Appetitto!!!