Rob Adelson - Sauce Bolognese

Chuck,

Sorry it took me so long to respond -- I was in Atlanta for my sister's wedding. Hopefully I'm not too late.

My only tips are to make sure the white wine and beef stock reduce fully before going on to the next steps. You can have the beef stock warming a bit in a saucepan to speed the process a little. It takes a lot of patience.

It's not mandatory, but I've found that the sauce improves if refridgerated overnight.

As I mentioned before, it's a real strong sauce that I prefer in lasagna rather than straight over pasta -- but it's good either way. How are you serving the sauce? What wine are you serving?

Rob Adelson

Greetings Rob; As I respond to your welcome reply I am surrounded by the perfume of evaporating White Vermouth (Noilly Prat) which I chose to use as the wine of choice...... It's also a perfect day to be making this as it is cool and we here in Southern Ontario are getting our first real rain in about 6 or 8 weeks..... very welcome indeed

Your words of caution re not hurrying the evaporation cycles is welcome re-enforcement to this impatient type A personality. Fortunately, we had a busy weekend entertaining and I have both weekend as well as this morning's papers to keep me co-occupied.

I intend to freeze at least half of this batch for a future Lasagna or pasta bake per your suggestion and to eat the rest with pasta perhaps tomorrow or Wednesday. Pasta thoughts at the moment include Delverde's Elicoidali, n21, De Cecco's Rigatoni or perhaps a Tagliatelle or a Conchiglie rigate..... This could be one hell of a long list of possibles!

The wine, the wine...... As you may already know from my various posts over the couple of years I've been a lurker and poster here I voluntarily limit myself to purchasing Ontario wines only. If you're pouring on the other hand, I'll drink damned near anything!!! Your suggestion of personally favouring Italian reds suggest to me a lighter wine such as a Henry of Pelham 99 PN or a Cave Spring Cellars 2000 Gamay Reserve which I currently have in my cellar and are drinking very well at the moment. I think perhaps that a Meritage or CF or Shiraz or others of that ilk would overpower this fragrant and complex sauce. Your thoughts?

Accompaniments for this would be a very good Olive bread (subject of a separate post here today) and liberal fresh gratings from my block of Reggiano Parmesan.

Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble. ;>))

"The wine, the wine...... As you may already know from my various posts over the couple of years I've been a lurker and poster here I voluntarily limit myself to purchasing Ontario wines only. If you're pouring on the other hand, I'll drink damned near anything!!! Your suggestion of personally favouring Italian reds suggest to me a lighter wine such as a Henry of Pelham 99 PN or a Cave Spring Cellars 2000 Gamay Reserve which I currently have in my cellar and are drinking very well at the moment. I think perhaps that a Meritage or CF or Shiraz or others of that ilk would overpower this fragrant and complex sauce. Your thoughts?"

I don't know anything about any of the wines you list but the Bolognese sauce is very meaty and flexible. I love Italian wines so that's what I drink with it, but I think most red wines would be a fine match. It's so much work to make that I always want something special to drink with it -- it doesn't have to be Italian, though.

I would favor a medium to full bodied red wine -- I think a meritage would be good. I would easily choose a nice Super-Tuscan, with cabernet in it, so I think a meritage would work, too. I would think most pinot noirs would get lost. I think this sauce would go with lots of other red wines, too. I wonder what others in this NG would recommend?

Rob Adelson

Greetings Rob;

First, the Bolognese, the Bolognese.... It's bloody wonderful! It took 12 hours to make a double batch which turned out to have a perfect creamy texture and wonderfully complex and forward taste. Had it this evening in a Bolognese pasta bake with medium shell pasta and a lovely Parmesan flavoured Bechamel sauce covering all. 20mins in a 375 oven and it was a wonder to behold. My wife inquired as to who was coming to dinner and this was a cut above our usual weekday supper.

As to the wine, I paired it with a Niagara Beamsville Bench Peninsula Ridge Cab/Merlot blend. Medium density with a nice balance and not too too much fruit forward. Went very well in spite of my misgivings with the Bechamel..... the Reggiano must have saved it.

Had enough sauce left over to put 2 batches in the freezer where I imagine they'll roost till company comes.

Many thanks for the delicious recipe,

Do you mind sharing which recipe you used. There were a couple on this group a few months back.

dick

Greetings Rob;

The recipe for Pasticcio is as found in The Italian Cooking Encyclopedia from Lorenz Books

Ingredients:

225g/8oz dried conchiglie 1 quantity hot bolognese sauce Salt & freshly ground pepper

For the white sauce:

1/4 c butter (unsalted) 1/2 c plain flour 3 c whole milk 1 c grated Parmesan (Reggiano) 1 egg beaten good pinch of grated Nutmeg

Preheat oven to 375F/190C

1. Cook conchiglie in a large pan of rapidly boiling salted water for 10-12 mins or until al dente.

1. Meanwhile, make the white sauce. Melt the butter in a saucepan until foaming, add the flour and stir over low heat for a couple of minutes. Gradually whisk in the milk, raise the heat to medium (or so) and bring back to a gentle boil whisking pretty well continuously. Lower the heat and simmer for 2 - 3 minutes until the sauce thickens. Remove the pan from the heat.

2. Drain the pasta, tip into 20x30cm/8x12in baking dish and mix with the bolognese. Level the surface.

1. Stir about two thirds of the Parmesan into the white sauce then add in the beaten egg, nutmeg and salt & pepper to taste. Pour and spread over the pasta and bolognese mixture then sprinkle with remaining Parmesan.

2. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden and bubbling.

1. Serve with a side salad garnish on each plate.

I hope this does it for you Rob.... again many thanks for the lovely recipe.

Chuck,

I am glad you liked the recipe. Positive feedback is always appreaciated. Now that the weather around here (Idaho) is cooling off I'm going to do some serious cooking as well. Thanks for the recipe you posted.

In response to Dick's request, here is the recipe, again:

WARNING: This takes a long time to cook -- especially if you make 2, 3, or

4 recipes at once, as I usually do. It freezes real well.

1/2 cup of olive oil

1 large onion, chopped 6 stalks celery, finely chopped 4 large carrots, finely chopped 4 ounces pancetta, chopped 1/2 pound ground pork or sausage (I like sweet or mild Italian sausage -- remove from casings) 1/2 pound ground veal 1/2 pound ground beef salt freshly ground black pepper pinch of grated nutmeg 1 cup dry white wine 3 cups beef stock 2 cans (about 13 ounces each) whole, peeled tomatoes, chopped, with juice 1/2 cup whipping cream

Combine oil and onion in a big pot. Cook over medium heat until the onion is soft -- about 5 minutes. Add the celery, carrots, and pancetta and cook for 3 minutes, stirring constantly, until the vegetables start to wilt. Add the meat and cook until it has started to change color, breaking up any lumps with a wooden spoon. Season slightly with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Add the wine and ALLOW THE MIXTURE TO SIMMER UNTIL ALL WINE HAS EVAPORATED, stirring frequently. This takes a long time but it will happen.

Add 1/2 cup of the stock and again simmer until all the stock has evaporated, stirring frequently. Continue adding stock and stirring frequently until all stock has been used. (This takes a real long time). Now add the tomatoes -- BUT MAKE SURE ALL THE STOCK HAS EVAPORATED -- and simmer the mixture uncovered very slowly, with just the occasional bubble, for 3 to 4 hours, stirring from time to time. Next, add the cream and simmer a further 5 minutes, or until the sauce is thickening. Correct the seasoning.

As I mentioned before, this is a serious sauce -- not comfort food. My opinion is that it can overpower pasta sometimes (but I eat it with tagliatelle anyway and it's still great) and I think it is best as the sauce for lasagne. I don't like riccota cheese much so I use lasagne pasta and bechamel sauce along with parmigiana reggiano, mozzarella, and a little butter. I got all three of these recipes (Bolognese sauce, bechamel, and lasagne) from Loukie Werle's book "Trattoria Pasta".

I don't think I've ever had a better meal to go with a really fine Italian red wine. I'm sure it is wonderful with lots of red wines, but I love Italian reds and almost never have it with anything else. I had a 1990 San Felice Vigorello with it (in late 2001) and it was perfect.

Enjoy,

Rob Adelson

(and thanks to Loukie Werle for a great recipe)

thanks.

dick

voluntarily