A Bolognese Recipe

I wanted to make bolognese for dinner tonight and read through several recipes. I ended up making a combination of Marcella Hazan's classic and one deemed "classic ragu alla bolognese" by the Bolognese chapter of the Accademia Italiana della Cucina on 1982. My combo recipe is as follows:

1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped carrot

6 oz diced pancetta
1 pound ground chuck

1 tablespoon canola oil
3 tablespoons butter

salt
black pepper
a whole nutmeg

1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 cup dry white wine - I used a Fruili

15 oz can of whole tomatoes

pasta of your choice
parmigiano reggiano

Put the oil and butter in a pot or large sautee pan and put the heat on medium. Drop in the pancetta and cook until almost rendered. Add the onions and celery and carrots and cook around 5 minutes.

Add the ground chuck and cook until the red is gone. Add salt and a few grinds of pepper. Lower the heat to a slow simmer. Add the wine and simmer until the wine is reduced. Add the tomatoes and cook for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Watch the liquid! Add water or wine or stock if it gets low.

Use a microplane and add a few scrapes of the nutmeg. Add 1/2 cup of the milk and reduce, add another 1/2 cup and reduce, add the final 1/2 cup and reduce. You've got about 1 1/2 hours of simmering going here. You are almost done! Ours went for about 2 hours. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Drop your pasta and cook it then drop drained pasta into the pan with the bolognese. Reserve some of the pasta water as needed.

Plate and top with the parmigiano reggiano serve with a salad and a big red wine and enjoy. We did!