Ingredients
Total Time: 40 Minutes
1 medium sized yellow onion (finely chopped)
2 or 3 medium sized carrots (finely chopped)
2 or 3 medium sized celery stalks (finely chopped)
4 to 6 cloves of garlic (minced)
1 to 2 Tbsp tomato paste
2 tsp granulated sugar
1 – 1.5 cups red wine (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec, as long as its a dry red. Plus you’ll want to drink that when you eat anyway)
28oz can of crushed tomatoes
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
grated parmesan or romano cheese
1 – 1.5lbs ground meat. (Mixture of ground beef, pork, and veal is best. If you cant find this, just use ground beef)
1lb pasta. (a decent Tagliatelle is best for Bolognese)
1tsp salt
1tsp black pepper
Procedure
Heat the oil in a stainless steel pan over medium heat. Once the pan is to temperature, add the ground meat, salt, and pepper, stirring and breaking it apart.
Once the meat is almost cooked, add in the minced garlic, and stir to evenly mix.
Once the garlic has started to sweat and become aromatic, add the chopped onion, carrot, and celery. Saute for about 5 minutes, or until the onion and celery start to soften.
Once the onion is starting to soften, add in the tomato paste, and mix well to evenly combine. Cook for another 2 minutes or so
Once the tomato paste has softened and is evenly mixed, add the wine to de-glaze the pan, scraping up any fond that may have accumulated. Mix together well until the tomato paste dissolves leaving with a dark, thick, almost paste like consistency. Cook for another 3 to 5 minutes until the alcohol has evaporated from the wine.
Add in the can of crushed tomatoes, 1/2 tsp of crushed red pepper, and 2 tsp sugar, then stir to evenly combine everything. Once the mixture is heated through and starts to bubble, turn the head down to med-low and let simmer for about 15 minutes. Stir occasionally.
While the sauce is simmering, cook the pasta until it’s 3/4 way done, and drain thoroughly.
Per individual serving, add the pasta to the pan of sauce, and continue to cook until the pasta is finished the final 1/4 way of cooking, mixing evenly in the sauce. Once everyone who is eating has been served, add the rest of the pasta to the sauce, mix evenly, turn off the heat, and cover. The pasta will cool the rest of the way with the residual heat if left for a while.
Plate the pasta with the Bolognese, and serve with a decent amount of grated cheese over top. Best with a dry red wine, and some Italian bread on the side.