The Ultimate Beef Bolognese Sauce

Bolognese is an incredibly flavorful sauce. Made with all kinds of proteins from seafood, to pork, lamb and beef. It varies with the use of different ingredients and can be made as a red sauce or a white sauce. This bolo recipe is deep in flavors that coat every bite of the fresh cavatelli that I’ve made with it.

I’m pretty proud of how this dish turned out. Meat sauce is nothing out of the ordinary, it’s actually quite basic. Beef, tomatoes, sauce. The important part of taking this dish from just any basic homecooked meal to a restaurant chef quality one is making very small improvements. I’ve made the pasta from scratch, with just that I’ve upped the game on this dish. With the left over ricotta I created a creamy pepper ricotta topping. You can always make your own marinara sauce and hit it out the ball park but I don’t really think its completely necessary. If you develop all the flavors like you should, you’ll have an amazing restaurant quality dish. Put your apron on and lets get to work!

Take advantage of your local Farmer’s Markets! They have the best ingredients and you’re helping the farmers !

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Prep Time: 30 min Cook Time: 25 min

Yields 4-6 Servings

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Lb lean ground beef

• 1/2 cup chopped white onion

• 1/2 cup chopped celery

• 1/2 cup chopped carrots

• 2 bay leaves

• 2 spring thyme

• 5 garlic cloves (minced)

• 2 Tablespoons olive oil

• 2 oz tomato paste

• 6oz tomato sauce

• 1/2 cup water

• 1 Tablespoon kosher salt

• 1 Tablespoon oregano

• 1 teaspoon paprika

• 1/4 teaspoon chili flakes

• 6 oz marinara sauce

• 5 basil leaves

Method:

1. Start by adding the olive oil to a medium size deep pot, bring up to a medium high heat.

2. When the oil begins to heat up add in the onion, carrots, celery, garlic and thyme. Cook until it becomes fragrant and translucent.

3. Add in the meat and spices and begin to cook, making sure to break down any big pieces of meat.

4. Now lower the heat to medium add in the water, tomato paste, and tomato sauce letting it simmer for about 8 min. Stir ever few minutes to avoid burring at the bottom.

5. Add in the marinara sauce and lower the heat allowing the flavors to develop for about 10-15 mins.

6. In the meantime your pasta should be cooking, once its done add it to the Bolo sauce adding pasta water if the sauce is too thick.

7. For the Ricotta topping simply add 1/2 cup of ricotta to a bowl, whip in about 2 Tablespoons of water, salt and pepper.

8. Serve immediately and top with fresh basil.

Recipes

Click on the Fresh Cavatelli Pasta Dough Blog Post to see how easy it is to make!