White Bolognese Sauce Lidia Recipes

WHITE BOLOGNESE SAUCE

Steps:

• To me, until recently, a Bolognese sauce has always meant a tomato and meat sauce. So I was blown away when I saw Lidia Bastianich take a totally different spin on the recipe, creating a White Bolognese. This sauce, still with meat, drops most of the tomato, adding a bit more cream and ricotta...which leaves it...well...white. The flavor is still wonderfully rich, yet very different from a traditional tomato based Bolognese. Like the original, it freezes really well, so I make large batches, and then have a bunch of meals ready to go any time. Give it a try and let me know how you like it. Recipe Overview and Keys to Success To make the best White Bolognese make sure you do the following: This isn't a sauce you can rush, so make sure you've got a few hours to let it simmer on the stove top Taste, taste and taste. Seasoning and balance is key in a sauce like this, and rather than blindly following the ingredient list, taste as you go, and adjust...especially the salt and pepper Use both beef and pork. I love the combination of two meats which bring different flavors and textures Finally, know that it's easy to control the consistency of the sauce. If you over reduce, you can add some more water to thin it out. If it's too thin, simmer uncovered which will evaporate some water and thicken it. White Bolognese Ingredients 1 large onion 1 large carrot 1 celery stalk 4 cloves garlic 2 tablespoons butter 2 tablespoon olive oil 1 ounce pancetta diced 1 lbs ground pork 1 lbs ground beef 1 cup white wine 1.5 cups of cream 1 tablespoon rosemary 1 tablespoon thyme 2 tablespoons tomato paste 1 dash nutmeg 2 bay leaves 1 cup chicken stock 3 tablespoons parmesan cheese 3 tablespoons ricotta cheese White Bolognese Coarsely chop the carrot, onion, celery and garlic and put in a food processor - pulse until minced (you can also do by hand, but it will take a bit longer) Heat a large, high sided sauté pan, or pot, over medium heat and add the minced vegetables Season with salt and pepper Cook for 5 - 7 minutes, until the veggies are soft, but not browned Add the meat and stir together, cooking until browned, and fully cooked (about 15 - 20 minutes) Add the white wine to deglaze the pan, and then reduce by half Season again with salt and pepper, then add the cream, herbs, tomato paste, and bay leaves Bring to a simmer, cover and cook for 1 - 2 hours Add enough chicken stock to ensure nothing is sticking and the sauce is loose Cook for another 2 hours and add a dash of nutmeg, and the parmesan and ricotta cheese Mix thoroughly, and taste for salt and pepper If needed, you can thin with more chicken stock, or simmer uncovered to thicken Serve it up with your favorite pasta! Wine Recommendation This is a really rich sauce, that can use an equally rich wine. Since it's also Italian, we'll stick with Italy, and I'll recommend a Barolo. These wines are the biggest and boldest out of Italy. They age well, and go great with rich dishes like this one. Enjoy!

BOLOGNESE BIANCO

Steps:

• Put the oil, onion, carrot, celery, garlic, pancetta, bay leaves, rosemary and thyme in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally and scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon, until the pancetta is rendered and cooked, and the vegetables are completely tender and golden, 16 to 18 minutes. (If the vegetables are browning too quickly, lower the heat.)
• Add the ground beef, ground pork and the garam masala and continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the meat is completely broken up and cooked through, and most of the liquid has evaporated, about 10 minutes. Add 1 teaspoon salt and some freshly ground black pepper.
• Add the wine and cook, stirring occasionally, until almost evaporated, 10 to 15 minutes. Add the chicken broth, cream, and the cheese rind if using and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally until the mixture thickens and the flavors come together, about 45 minutes. Discard the bay leaves and cheese rind, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve the Bolognese Bianco tossed with the pasta and more grated Parmigiano.

WHITE BOLOGNESE SAUCE

Steps:

• Place onion, carrot, fennel, garlic and celery in food processor and mince to an even textured paste (aka a pastata. Fancy!).
• Pour oil and butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add pastata and a dash of salt. Cook for around 5 minutes, or until all the liquid evaporates and is beginning to stick to the pan.
• Crumble in meat and stir with the pestata. Sprinkle with salt and cook until browned.
• Pour in wine and bring to a simmer. Cook for 3 minutes for the alcohol to evaporate. Pour in the milk mixed with cornstarch and tomato paste. Stir around for 1-2 minutes.
• Ladle in the hot stock and add bay leaf, italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover and cook for 20 more minutes, or until the sauce thickens. Taste and add salt and pepper, if needed. Serve with hot cooked pasta and fresh parsley.

BOLOGNESE SAUCE

Steps:

• To prepare the meat and pestata: Put all 4 pounds of ground meat into a large mixing bowl. With your fingers, crumble and loosen it all up. Pour the white wine over the meat, and work it all through your fingers again so it's evenly moistened.
• To make the pestata: Cut the bacon or pancetta slices into 1-inch pieces, and put them in the bowl of a food processor with the peeled garlic. Process them into a fine paste.
• Cooking the sauce base: Pour the olive oil into the heavy saucepan, and scrape in all of the pestata. Set the pan over medium-high heat, break up the pestata, and stir it around the pan bottom to start rendering the fat. Cook for 3 minutes or more, stirring often, until the bacon and garlic are sizzling and aromatic and there's a good deal of fat in the pan.
• Stir the minced onions into the fat, and cook for a couple of minutes, until sizzling and starting to sweat. Stir in the celery and carrot, and cook the vegetables until wilted and golden, stirring frequently and thoroughly over medium-high heat, about 5 minutes or more.
• Turn the heat up a notch, push the vegetables off to the side, and plop all the meat into the pan; sprinkle the salt on. Let the meat brown for a few minutes on the pan bottom, then stir, spread, and toss with a sturdy spoon, mixing it into the vegetables; make sure every bit of meat browns and begins releasing fat and juices. Soon the meat liquid will almost cover the meat itself. Cook at high heat, stirring often, until all that liquid has disappeared, even in the bottom of the pan. This will take 1/2 hour to 45 minutes, depending on the heat and width of the pan. Stir occasionally, and as the liquid level diminishes, lower the heat so the meat doesn't burn.
• When all the meat liquid has been cooked off, pour in the 2 cups red wine. Raise the heat if you've lowered it, and stir the meat as the wine comes to a boil. Cook until the wine has almost completely evaporated, about 5 minutes. Now drop the 2 tablespoons tomato paste into a clear space on the pan bottom. Toast it for a minute in the hot spot, then stir to blend it with the meat, and let it caramelize for another 2 or 3 minutes.
• Pour in the crushed tomatoes, and stir; slosh out the tomato container with a cup of hot broth, and pour that in, too. Bring the liquid to a boil, stirring the meat, and let the liquid almost boil off, 5 minutes more.
• Pour in 2 cups of hot broth, stir well, and add more if needed to cover the meat. Bring it to an active simmer, cover the pan, and adjust the heat to maintain slow, steady cooking, with small bubbles perking all over the surface of the sauce.
• At this point, the Bolognese should cook for 3 hours. Check the pot every 20 minutes, and add hot broth as needed to cover the meat. The liquid level should be reducing by 1 1/2 to 2 cups between additions: if it's falling much faster, and it takes more than 2 cups to cover the meat, lower the heat to slow the evaporation. If the sauce level drops slowly or not at all, raise the heat and set the cover ajar to speed its concentration. Stir well at every addition.
• During the final cooking, you want to reduce the level of the liquid-at the end, the meat should no longer be covered with sauce but appear suspended in a thick, flowing medium. If the meat is still submerged by a lot of liquid, remove the cover to cook off moisture quickly.
• A few minutes before the end of cooking, taste a bit of meat and sauce, and add salt if you want. Grind 1 teaspoon of black pepper right into the sauce, stir it in, and cook about 5 minutes before removing the pan from the heat.
• If you'll be using the sauce right away, spoon off the fat from the surface, or stir it in as is done traditionally. Otherwise, let the sauce cool, then chill it thoroughly, and lift off the solidified fat. Store the sauce for several days in the refrigerator, or freeze it (in measured amounts for different dishes) for use within a few months.