Super Bowl Bolognese

What says love more to your crew than a pot of something simmery that has been on the stovetop for over four hours? NOTHING, that's what! And what is more deliciously simmery that a big 'ol pot of Bolognese sauce? That's right, class, nothing again! So yesterday for some post Super Bowl dinner fun, I rocked an awesome batch of Bolognese sauce all day on the stove. For this version, made twice now with resounding success, I've combined the best of two recipes, making it about 80% Dean and Deluca Cookbook, and 20% Marcella's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. With the predictable 100% satisfaction factor! And man, does the house smell good with this bit of loveliness going all day, plus there's plenty of leftover sauce even after taking care of five hungry appetites. You can freeze it in smaller containers, or if you're Bolognese whore like me, eat it again in a couple of days because it's too fucking good to stay away from!!
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Bolognese Sauce
adapted from "Dean and Deluca Cookbook" and "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking"

ingredients:
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onion
1/2 cup diced carrot
1/2 cup diced celery
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground pepper
1 pound ground beef (pref. ground chuck)
1/2 pound ground veal
1/2 pound ground pork
1/4 pound chicken livers, chopped
1/2 cup whole milk
2 cups canned San Marzano tomatoes, chopped with juice
1 1/2 cups beef stock
1 cup dry white wine
freshly grated nutmeg

method:
1- Heat olive oil and butter over moderate heat, Add onions and sauté u7ntil opaque, about 8 minutes. Add chopped carrot, celery, kosher salt, and pepper and cook for 5 minutes.

2- Add ground beef, veal, and pork and crumble with a wooden spoon. Cook until meat is no longer pink, ad add chicken livers and milk (the milk is Marcella's idea, she says: "cook the meat in milk before adding tomatoes and wine to protect it from the acidic bite of the latter". Makes sense to me. -BB). Simmer for five to ten minutes until milk is mostly evaporated away.

3-Add tomato sauce, 1 cup beef stock, and white wine. Stir well and simmer, uncovered, over very low heat (an occasional bubble should break the surface) for 1-1/2 hours. Add remaining beef stock and simmer for another 1-1/2 or more hours. Add nutmeg and adjust seasonings.

Cooks note: some chefs, myself included, like to add a little cream at the end to finish the sauce. Thickens it up slightly and seems to ad just the right richness. Marcella recommends fresh tagliatelle, which we had. Also good are DeCecco penne and fusilli.

Making the tough decisions

Go ahead. Put that gun to my head. Make me decide. Don't tell me you haven't thought about it, too. You know THE QUESTION: Name your top five favorite things to eat. Given that it would be hard to name my top twenty-five favorite things to eat, I do have certain things that with every bite always make me happy. A perfectly steamy bowl of cassoulet....a savory plate of osso buco....a crusty medium rare rib eye hot off the 'que. I would also have to include a pasta or risotto in there, just for the comfort food aspect. And if you made me decide which pasta, I would have to go with spaghetti alla carbonara, in all its pancetta-ey, eggy, cheesey glory. I LOVE carbonara...it always satisfies, at least when I make this version. This version being for me the definitive recipe by none other than the doyenne of Italian cooking, Marcella Hazan, from her Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, which to me is a must for any cooks shelf. I posted about this over a year ago, and since have tweaked it a little bit for the better, and after a most pleasantly indulgent plate the other night, thought it was time to share again for all you new readers. For such a quick and easy pasta, I can't imagine what could feel better than this classic. Get ready to swoon..... ********************

Spaghetti alla Carbonara
adapted from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

ingredients:
4-6 oz. pancetta cut into 1/4" dice (or if you must, use regular bacon. Sadly, it won't be as good.)
4 garlic cloves
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup dry white wine
2 large eggs
3/4 cup grated parmagiano-reggiano cheese (Marcella calls for 1/2 cup parma and 1/4 cup pecorino-romano, which I hardly ever have and doesn't make a huge difference)
Fresh ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1# spaghetti, preferably DeCecco dry pasta
1/2 cup reserved pasta water
Extra grated Parmagiano for passing

method:
1. Put large pot of water on to boil for pasta. When boiling, add salt and pasta.
2 Lightly mash garlic with knife blade, which will loosen the skin. Discard skin. Put garlic and olive oil into 10" sauté pan and turn on heat to medium high. Sautee until garlic turns medium gold, and remove and discard it.
3. Put diced pancetta into the pan, and cook until they crisp. ( I let mine get quite crispy, and a bit smoky, which I think adds depth of flavor). Add wine at this point and let bubble away for 2 1 or 2 minutes and turn off heat.
4. Break the 2 eggs into the serving bowl you'll be using for the pasta and lightly beat with a fork. Then add the cheese, a liberal grinding of pepper, and the chopped parsley. Mix thoroughly.
5. When pasta is done, take about 1/2 cup of the pasta water and set aside. Drain pasta. Add the cooked, drained spaghetti to the bowl and toss rapidly. While tossing, briefly reheat the pancetta and add to the bowl, toss thoroughly again, add a bit of the reserved pasta water and serve immediately. Pass extra Parmagiano.

Carbonara Comfort!

It's always good to have a fall back position, especially when things are a little chaotic. Someplace you can go and know things are going to be okay. I'm going through that particular chaos known as moving right now, which while exciting is also a bit non-relaxing in that "what fucking box did I put that in?" or "where the hell is my chefs knife?" kind of way. Thankfully by the end of the day, when both w and I were totally starving, we had found all we needed to whip up one of our favorite things, Spaghetti alla Carbonara.
Talk about finding that good place. When doesn't this taste perfect besides never. So simple, and at the end of a day of schlepping and unpacking, blessedly easy. This is one reason, the main reason, I always keep portioned out pancetta in the freezer and a box of DeCecco dry spaghetti in the pantry. A little chopping, sautéing, boiling, and tossing and you're good to go. The following recipe is from the bible as written by Marcella Hazan, her indispensable Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. It puts to shame any other carbonara recipe I've tried. The key is infusing the olive oil with the garlic and finishing the pancetta with the splash of wine, which perks up the whole dish. As Ella might have sung, this is so nice to come home to!

Spaghetti alla Carbonara
ingredients:
1/2 # pancetta (or if you must, regular bacon. Sadly, it won't be as good.)
4 garlic cloves
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup dry white wine
2 large eggs
3/4 cup grated parmagiano-reggiano cheese (Marcella calls for 1/2 cup parma and 1/2 cup pecorino-romano, which I hardly ever have and doesn't make a huge difference)
Fresh ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1# spaghetti, preferably DeCecco dry pasta

1. Cut pancetta into 1/4" dice
2 Lightly mash garlic with knife blade, which will loosen the skin. Discard skin. Put garlic and olive oil into 10" sauté pan and turn on heat to medium high. Sautee until garlic turns medium gold, and remove and discard it.
3. Put diced pancetta into the pan, and cook until they crisp. ( I let mine get quite crispy, and a bit smoky, which I think adds depth of flavor). Add wine at this point and let bubble away for 2 1 or 2 minutes and turn off heat.
4. Break the 2 eggs into the serving bowl you'll be using for the pasta and lightly beat with a fork. Then add the cheese, a liberal grinding of pepper, and the chopped parsley. Mix thoroughly.
5 Add the cooked, drained spaghetti to the bowl and toss rapidly. While tossing, briefly reheat the pancetta and add to the bowl, toss thoroughly again and serve immediately.
6. Pop a bottle of good red wine (we had a 2004 Fattoria de Petroio Chianti, one of my current faves), and be prepared to eat more than you should, because you'll be back for seconds, or.....!