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Ragù Bolognese

Ragù Bolognese

Adapted from Marcella Hazan’s widely published recipe. This version was as adapted by the NYT, with a slightly reduced amount of carrots.

  • 7--9 servings
  • 30 minutes
  • 5 hours

Ingredients

Bolognese Sauce

  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 3 tbsp butter
  • 1 cup finely diced onion
  • 1 1/3 cup finely diced celery
  • 1 cup finely diced carrot
  • 1 1/2 lbs ground beef, at least 1 lb 80/20 chuck
  • Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 3/4 tsp ground nutmeg, or 1/4 tsp fresh grated
  • 2 cups dry white wine
  • 1 15 oz can San Marzano or Italian plum tomatoes and juices, cut finely or briefly blended

Pasta and serving

  • 2 lbs pasta, a thicker chewy noodle like pappardelle works great
  • Freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano
  • 1 tsp minced parsely

Directions

  1. Preheat heavy-bottomed dutch oven over medium heat. Add the oil, butter, and chopped onion and stir to coat. Cook, stirring often until onion has become translucent; be careful not to brown the onion, lower the heat if needed. Add chopped celery and carrot, stir and cook for 5 minutes.
  2. Add ground beef and a large pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper. Press the meat with the back of a wooden spoon or fork to crumble. Cook just until the meat is no longer raw red color.
  3. Add the milk and bring to a simmer. Stir often and simmer until milk has evaporated completely. Add nutmeg and stir.
  4. Add the wine, and bring to a simmer. Stir often and simmer until wine has evaportated completely.
  5. Add the tomatoes and stir thoroughly to coat all ingredients. Bring tomatoes to “the laziest of simmers, with just an intermittent bubble breaking through to the surface.” Cook sauce uncovered for 3–4 hours, stirring ocassionally. The final hour of cooking really brings the sauce to the next level, do not skip it! If needed to prevent sticking, add 1/2 a cup of water and stir.
  6. Cook pasta as directed, saving 1 cup pasta water. After draining pasta, return cooked pasta to pot and spoon in enough sauce to just coat the noodles. Add a few tbsp of pasta water, gently shaking and stirring the noodles to create an immulsified sauce. To plate, place pasta in center of bowl, cover with additional sauce, grated parmesan, and just a few flecks of parsely for color.

Notes

  • Freezes well. Allow to cool and place into freezer.