The ESSENTIALS of CLASSIC ITALIAN COOKING

by MARCELLA HAZAN is Considered by Many To Be The BIBLE of ITALIAN COOKING

RAGU BOLOGNESE

Bolognese Meat Sauce

for about 6 servings

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3 tablespoons butter plus 1 tablespoon for tossing with the pasta
1/2 cup chopped onion
2/3 cup chopped celery
2/3 cup chopped carrot
3/4 pound ground beef chuck, not too lean
salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 cup whole milk [or 2 %]
Whole nutmeg for grating
1 cup dry white or red wine 
1 1/2 cups canned imported Italian plum tomatoes, cut up, with their juice
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pounds pasta
Freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano at the table

Put the oil, butter, and chopped onion in a heavy-bottomed pot and turn the heat to medium. Cook and stir until the onion is translucent. Add the celery and carrot and cook for about 2 minutes, stirring to coat the vegetables with fat.

Add the meat, a large pinch of salt, and some freshly ground pepper. Break the meat up with a fork, stir well, and cook until the meat has lost its raw color.

Add milk and let simmer gently, stirring frequently, until it has bubbled away completely. Add a tiny grating, about 1/8 teaspoon, fresh nutmeg and stir.

Add the wine and let it simmer away. When the wine has evaporated, stir in the tomatoes. When they begin to bubble, turn the heat down so that the sauce cooks at the laziest of simmers, with just an intermittent bubble breaking through to the surface. Cook, uncovered, for 3 hours, stirring from time to time. If the sauce begins to dry out, add 1/2 cup of water whenever necessary to keep it from sticking. At the end, there should be no water left, and the fat must separate from the sauce. Taste for salt.

Toss with cooked, drained pasta and the remaining tablespoon of butter. Serve freshly grated cheese at the table.

 THIS RECIPE For BOLOGNESE MEAT SAUCE Is From MARCELLA HAZAN’S ESSENTIALS of CLASSIC ITALIAN COOKING Which is Considered by Many to be The BIBLE of ITALIAN COOKING, and Marcell Hazan The Julia Child of Italian Cooking .. Vey True! And this recipe for Ragu Bolognese is probably of all the great recipes published by Hazan, Ragu Bolognese the # 1 Most Popular and Loved of all … 

We losted Marcella this year, the great doen of Italian Cooking passed away at age 89. Her Memeory live on in her books and her recipes like this Ragu Bolognese and every time some cooks and serves it. Bravo Marcella and R.I.P.   ….