Bolognese sauce. Italian recipe

How to prepare an authentic Bolognese sauce .

Since I was a child I always asked my mother to eat spaghetti with minced meat and fried tomato.

Perhaps one of my favorite dishes, very helpful and that my mother prepared with a bit of béchamel sauce and gratin in the oven with cheese.

Although delicious, they were not the tagliatelle with Bolognese sauce that I tried at the home of an Italian friend when I studied in Compostela. Since that time I prepare the Bolognese in two different ways, like my mother and Sofia’s, why keep a single recipe.

Today I present you a recipe for Bolognese sauce suitable for an Italian to recognize as his.

It is similar to the myth spread throughout the world that carbonara sauce is with cream. On the blog you can already consult this Italian recipe as God commands, without cream or anything like it.

The recipe of the Sofia family is of Emiliana influence. The bolognese sauce or meat ragout that he prepares has a base of minced meat and bacon.

It is usually accompanied by fresh pasta with egg (almost always tagliatelle, although you can also make lasagna with it , accompany a little polenta or some great cannelloni ).

Preparation of the base of the Bolognese sauce

1. Chop the onion and celery into small cubes, all very finite.
2. Peel and chop the carrot into squares as best as possible, the finer they are the better because they will be passed when making the sauce.
3. We cut the bacon and the meat into small cubes. In this case I chose a piece of beef and it was minced by the butcher, but you can do it at home with a very sharp knife.
4. Finely chop the fresh parsley. We reserve
5. In a large casserole or frying pan, add a dash of extra virgin olive oil and add the bacon.
6. Cook over low heat for about 15 minutes, let it release all the fat and get crispy. Once done we remove to a bowl.
7. In the same frying pan and with all the fat from the bacon, fry the vegetables.
8. First the onion, then the celery and at the end the carrot, add a pinch of salt and let them sweat, letting water run for 12 minutes over medium heat.

Bolognese sauce cooking

1. We add the bacon and combine with the vegetables. It is time to add the meat.
2. Stir everything very well with a wooden spoon and cook over high heat for about 5 minutes.
3. Sprinkle with the chopped parsley and the spices that you like the most. We pour the wine and mix well so that all the flavors come together.
4. Drain the tomato and chop to add to the meat.
5. Pour the milk and taste with salt and pepper, if necessary season with salt and pepper to taste.

Final preparation of Bolognese sauce

1. We lower the heat and cook for an hour and a half. The ragù bolognese will have to bubble gently throughout the cooking.
2. We check the point of salt, surely you do not need it, but if it did add a little more.

And here you have it, a perfect sauce to accompany your favorite pasta. Accompany with some flakes of your favorite cheese and a good wine. I hope you like it.

You can see all the step by step photos of the Bolognese sauce recipe in this album. Do not miss any detail and it will turn out like in Italy.

Tips for a fluffy Bolognese sauce

• An Italian recipe with a sauce with much more meat and less tomato than you would normally be used to.
• The touch of celery, bacon and wine gives it an incredible flavor. One of those recipes that will stay at home like those of a lifetime.
• The ragù bolognese  never made with pork. The most normal thing is to use veal meat minced by knife into small cubes. I have chosen the piece of beef and told the butcher to chop it.
• What I have respected is to fry the vegetables in the fat resulting from frying the bacon that I assure you helps them taste like blessed glory.
• The secret is in a long cooking of the meat in red wine (never white). Another great trick is a splash of milk, which comes in handy to break the fibers and make it more tender.
• The meat sauce should be juicy and tender. The flavors of the sauce have to be one. If it falls short of liquid we can add a little water or meat broth, we check at intervals of 15 minutes.