September Team Cook - Pasta Bolognese

[Santamarina]

About to head to the market for a few things I’m missing. Cooking this up tomorrow. I’ve made marinara and my meat sauce based on it a thousand times, but this will be my first bolognese. Excited for this cook.

[58limited]

Here is mine. for the ground meat I used a blend of 50% venison and 50% prime brisket. I followed the recipe exactly but used my Fiery Pepper Powder instead of cayenne. This was amazing and I'll be making it again. The longest part was reducing the milk and wine - that took nearly an hour. After that it was mostly hands-off. I didn't taste the nutmeg at all and would be open to adding a little more next time.

[bbq_esq]

I always worried about going overboard on the nutmeg, but I’ve started just adding some towards the very end. You shouldn’t really taste it but you should know something is there, if that makes sense. Kinda like a bay leaf in soup.

[Santamarina]

Can’t believe I’m getting ready to make an Italian red sauce with no garlic or basil! 😬

For the last 25 years that’s all my sauce has been - San Marzano tomatoes, garlic, basil, salt, meat of choice.

[SheilaAnn]

Santamarina I know right? Trust this process, though!

[Carolyn]

I put it in the oven to simmer at around 4:30. Probably going for a 3 hour simmer because I started so late. It will marry overnight and be 😘
No wine, I can't do wine, so I put a little Better than Bouillon in it. I'll taste it later and make any adjustments I think it needs.

[Willy]

I love The Scream!

[Carolyn]

Willy Me too! 🙂

[klflowers]

All I can say is wow that is good. I was looking at the video and I added the tomato can of water so my simmer was like 6 hours after adding the tomatoes, so around 7-8 hours total. Felt like I was smoking a pork butt. I need a couple shakes of red pepper flakes to round it out, but it is very very good. I just finished so I’ll make some pasta tomorrow and do the reveal. When I say make, I mean some barilla because that is what I have. Not make as in make my own pasta lol

And I know Hazan is the master, but I would like some garlic.

[yakima]

I suggest that Hazan is more appropriately the mistress.... (Old school utilization of male/female terminology.}

[Carolyn]

I didn't drain the grease before putting my Bolognese in the oven. I just checked it and sopped the grease off of the top with a couple paper towels. Should start getting some good stuff around the edge here shortly. Just passed the 3 hour mark.

[captainlee]

We'll be making this tomorrow. Since we've had a bumper crop of tomatoes and the freezer is packed, we'll be making our own sauce today for this cook. It looks great, can't wait.

[SheilaAnn]

Here’s mine!!

Mise


Sauté



Add protein



Reduce….anticipation….



Just about there….Note that I do not scrape the sides too much. It’s my visual for how reduction is happening.

[SheilaAnn]

And the final because I could only do 5 pictures at one time.

Plated



A hefty sprinkle of pecorino Romano cuz I like it!



This was an awesome cook! I liked the challenge, as the team cook was originally brought about.

*This is a recipe I’ve never tried before.
*Refreshed my knife skillz with almost perfect dice (no, I didn’t use a ruler like they had us do in culinary school).
*The recipe was made exactly as written. I did use a blend of proteins as the recipe gave us that option.
*I resisted the urge to riff the recipe (garlic and crushed red pepper).

I wanted to add a “bonus cook” and make my own pasta. I even secured a recipe from the PMC Pasta Whisperer. But alas, it never happened. I used the Rummo brand pasta. Makes barilla and the like pale in comparison. Next time for sure! And there will be a next time because there are leftovers! And a next time after that!

Thank you bbq_esq for a great team cook! Looking forward to October!

[barelfly]

Looks good! My bolognese is similar to this recipe, but it’s a blend of beef, pork and veal. Otherwise it’s basically the same recipe and oh so yummy!!!!!!! Great cook!

[SheilaAnn]

barelfly I used the 24 oz beef-pork-veal mix from WF. Perfect portion for this recipe and now this blend has another win because I use it for the base for meatloaf and meatballs. (Going on the list for a WF run this week).

[Spinaker]

Wow, that looks good!

[Willy]

I have had great luck with this recipe from Barbara Lynch's book "Stir". https://www.recipelink.com/recipes/b...-lynch-1437558

PS: I hate chicken livers, but not in this.

[SheilaAnn]

I think I have this recipe somewhere… never tried it because of the chicken livers. I like chicken livers, too. Granted I’ve only had them as yakitori.

[Willy]

SheilaAnn The livers are finely minced and they "disappear" in the sauce. I usually omit the veal and just use pork and beef.

[klflowers]

Man this stuff is good. I don't have any in process pics, but aside from adding the tomato can of water and the resulting 6 hour simmer, prepared as written. With a piece of Texas toast

[Skip]

I followed the recipe pretty closely. Half of my tomatoes were San Marzanos from the garden and I used all Ground Beef. It was a fun cook considering it was the first time I ever made Bolognese. I will be making this again! Thanks for the recipe bbq_esq .

[Santamarina]

Onion, carrot, celery.


Sautéed in olive oil only - somehow we’re out of butter…I don’t think that’s happened in decades!


1 lb 85/15 ground beef, 0.5 lb mild Italian sausage.


Doing the milk and wine reductions took about 90 mins. Then came the tomatoes. A can of Cento San Marzanos.


There were about 192 times during this cook that I wanted to add garlic. But as SheilaAnn reminded me, “trust the process.”


Cooked for just under 6 hours after adding the tomatoes, so about 7.5 total.


Served over Mezzi Rigatoni with a little Italian parsley and fresh grated pecorino Romano.


This was a tasty meal. Despite the lack of garlic and basil it might make the rotation!

[bbq_esq]

Better late than never! Seems like a lot of people
enjoyed this, very happy to hear that. Hope it becomes part of your rotation, and definitely save some for lasagna!

[klflowers]

I’m glad I got over my simmer for hours phobia and participated. It is excellent. Thanks for bringing it to our attention

[Troutman]

Well as promised, here's my bolognese offering. Not quite as sexy as ya'll's but hey, we're kind of bolognesed out here in the Trouitman house. I'll save the effort for the next challenge.

Seriously though, there are some solid looking bowls of pasta here, very impressive.