Italy: Fresh Pappardelle with Bolognese Sauce

Bolognese sauce is one of my favorites, however to do this one right you need quite a bit of time. To be clear, it is not a lot of active time, but a lot of time on the lowest heat your oven can master until it all becomes a glorious, delicious mixture that is ready to be placed on pasta.

My recipe will make about 8 (generous) servings of the sauce and will take you about an hour of active cooking time, followed by about 3 hours of letting it do its thing on low heat.

This sauce can also be frozen for later use - it keeps and defrosts really well.

What you’ll need

Canned diced tomatoes (no flavor)

Carrots

Onions

White wine (dry)

Olive Oil & Butter

Beef Mince

Turkey Mince (I used thigh mince) or Pork Mince

Thyme, Basil, bay leaf & Oregano

Garlic

Smoked Pancetta

Heavy (double) cream

Chicken or Beef stock

Parmigiano cheese

Fresh Pappardelle

Step 1

Dice your onions and carrots. Fry them up until onions are translucent in a frying pan with some butter. Salt and pepper the mixture.

At the same time, add olive oil and fry up some pancetta in a sauce pan (make sure this is large enough for your sauce, this is where you will be cooking it). Add garlic to the mix and beef and turkey mince. Cook through until the meat had changed color (about 5 minutes).

Add in the onions and carrot mix from the frying pan to the sauce pan.

Step 2

Add in the wine and cook it on high heat until it is almost evaporated (about 10 minutes).

Here I also took the liberty to add a bit of chili to the mix, per my own preference.

Once the wine is almost evaporated, add the chicken (or beef) stock and the tomatoes. I ended up using two cans of the tomatoes and less than one cup of stock.

Add in the bay leaf and the basil (leave some for garnish), oregano and thyme.

Bring the whole thing to a boil and then reduce the heat to low and cook partially covered for about 2 hours.

Keep checking in on this to see how the moisture levels are doing as it cooks. If you need to reduce the moisture amount in the sauce - keep the lid off.

If you want to make sure it is cooking through but not evaporating quickly then put the lid on entirely or add some more stock.

Make sure to mix it every so often so the bottom doesn’t burn.

step 3

As your sauce is nearing completion, it should have less and less water in it. At this point you can discard the bay leaf and the thyme springs.

Toward the end, mix in some heavy cream and salt and pepper the sauce to taste. I like to add a bit of parmigiano cheese here as well.

Step 4

As your sauce is done - it is time to cook your pasta. In a pot, bring salted water to a boil and throw in your fresh pappardelle.

Cook the pasta until el dente (about 3 minutes for fresh pasta). Plate the pasta and cover with your sauce, sprinkle the top with fresh basil and parmigiano.

ENJOY!

wine!

For this meal, I would pair it with a Tuscan red. The original recipe coming from this area of the world, it pairs perfectly with wines from Tuscany.

This dish will do very well with a Chianti, Chianti Classico or a Montepulciano.