In my experience, pasta dishes are comfort food. I love a thick, slow-cooked tomato-based meat sauce, like Bolognese, over any kind of noodle. In my opinion, you can’t get much more comforting than that. The traditional Bolognese sauce comes from the city of Bologna, Italy, but there are many different variations throughout Italy. My Bolognese is not quite traditional–I usually throw in whatever vegetables I have available that sounds good. Most kids love pasta, so I found this sauce to be a great way to get kids that don’t otherwise love vegetables to eat them happily!
For the base of the Bolognese, I use canned and fresh tomatoes. I always keep several cans of Cento San Marzano tomatoes in the pantry, as well as Cento double-concentrated tomato paste. This just happens to be my favorite brand to use in my sauces. The flavor is amazing, and I love the iconic yellow cans with the red writing. My wife laughs at me when we are in the grocery store when I won’t go for a cheaper brand. I love to use the best ingredients in my food and that’s why I choose Cento.
Before I even think about getting the sauce pot out or turning the burner on, I do bit of preparation. We happen to have a nice garden where we grow fresh herbs, tomatoes, and a variety of other vegetables almost year-round. I wrangle the kids to go pick anything that is ripe and ready—my kids love participating in preparing our meals, from picking food from the garden, to chopping (using special kid-safe silicon knives), to stirring the pot and demanding taste tests! In the summer, we always have tomatoes, and nothing is better in Bolognese than fresh ingredients. Sometimes, we are lucky enough to have onions, garlic, zucchini, and peppers out there as well. Once we’ve collected the fresh veggies, I can get to work.
Start preparing the fresh tomatoes by bringing a saucepan of water to a boil and getting a bowl of ice water ready. Score x’s into the skin on the bottom of the tomatoes. Once the water is boiling, drop the tomatoes in for 5-10 seconds, then remove them and immediately place them into the ice water. This makes peeling the tomatoes so much easier! Peel the tomatoes then chop them up to bite sized pieces and set aside. Next, chop up any other vegetables you plan to add—in my case, I like to add onions, carrots, celery, zucchini, peppers, garlic, and mushrooms, depending on what’s available.
Now you’re finally ready to start cooking. Add some olive oil and a little butter to a large sauce pot and sauté the vegetables (except the mushrooms and zucchini–they’ll go in later). Once the onions are translucent, add the ground meat. You can use any meat you like for this sauce–I like to use ground turkey as it’s a little healthier. When the meat is cooked through, I add milk and simmer until the liquid has evaporated, now I add chicken broth and do the same. Next, add red or white wine (I use red because it has a more robust flavor and I cook with wine I like to drink). Continue to cook the sauce down until the liquid has reduced by about half, then add fresh basil, oregano, tomatoes, and tomato paste. If you’re including mushrooms and zucchini, now’s the time to add those into the mix. Let the sauce simmer over low heat for about two hours. Spoon over your favorite pasta, sprinkle with shredded parmesan, and serve. Enjoy!
