Bolognese Redux: Part I

Friends, I would like to tell you a tale.

Actually, a retelling.  A retelling of a certain pasta sauce which has captured the imaginations of, well, me and my husband.

Its name? Bolognese.

I did a post on this sauce a while back but, well, I hate the pictures in it.  So I took pictures the last time I made it.

Take your lovely, wonderful. flavorful veggies...

...and chop them up really, really fine in your food processor.  In the pre-processor days I would use a grater.  It took...a long time.

Brown this wonderfulness in a big pot with olive oil.

Meanwhile, brown this as well:

I have found that pouring as much of the fat off as possible aids in the browning process.  Took me long enough, didn't it?

Add your meat in with your now-browned veggies and mix 'em all together.  Then plop in 12 ounces of this:

I just love tomato paste.  It's so red and vibrant.

Once the paste is also brown and possibly sticking to the bottom of the pot, it's time to add the bestest ingredient of all...

Red, red wiiiiiiine....sing it with me now. 

I normally add around a cup but you can add more, or none at all - I've made this without wine and had no problems in the past.

Along with the wine goes 3 cups of water, along with thyme and bay leaves and salt and pepper (this sauce needs plenty of salt for seasoning.  Trust me).  That boils down and thickens, then another 3 cups are added and that, too, is cooked down.  Yes, it takes some time.  But boy is it worth it!!

So that's Part I of my two-parter regarding this nectar of the gods.  Soon you'll see that, while this goes really well over pasta (and oh boy, does it - preferably with a little splash of olive oil on top), there are other applications for it as well.  Wonderful, aromatic and quite possibly cheesy applications.

So stay tuned!

YUM!