we had a bolognese at the talimo’s a couple weeks back. it was excellent enough to try and reproduce exactly, but i have taken a bizarre (yet principled) stand against ground turkey in italian cooking, so i cobbled my own together — creating a kind og bastard child of Emeril Lagasse and Mario Batali.

(i’m not going to be able to get that vision out of my head, like, ever.)

mine ended up a little dry, so keep the wine on hand — next time i’m probably going to add another 1/2 cup of white and red to the recipe so it doesn’t go bone dry after 2 hours of simmering.

Ingredients

  • 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 1/4 pound pancetta or slab bacon, ground
  • 1 pound beef, ground
  • 1 pound pork sausage, removed from casings
  • 1 whole tomato
  • 6oz tomato paste
  • 2 cup milk
  • 1 cup dry white wine
  • 1 cup red wine
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Instructions

  1. In a large pot, heat 2 tablespoon of oil over medium-high heat. Add the bacon and onion, stirring, until browned and the fat is rendered, 4 to 5 minutes.
  2. Add butter, 3 tbs of olive oil, and the meat. Cook over high heat, stirring to keep the meat from sticking together until browned.
  3. Add the tomato, paste, milk, wines and spices. Simmer over medium-low heat for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.