Bolognese Sauce

Ingredients
1 large onion, roughly chopped
2 handfuls baby carrots, roughly chopped
3 ribs celery, roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic
8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
Kosher salt
3 pounds ground beef
6-8 ounces bacon, cut into small pieces
2 cups tomato paste
3 cups red wine
Water
3 bay leaves
1 bunch thyme, tied in a bundle

Instructions
1. Combine onion, carrots, celery, garlic, and mushrooms in food processor and process until a smooth paste forms.  Heat oil in large pan or Dutch oven over medium-high heat.  Add pureed vegetables and season with salt.  Cook, stirring, until water has evaporated and vegetables brown, about 15 to 25 minutes. 

2. Add ground beef and bacon and cook, stirring, another 15-25 minutes until beef and bacon are well browned. 

3. Add tomato paste and cook until color darkens, about 5 minutes.  Add wine and cook until reduced by half, 5 to 10 minutes. 

4. Add water until contents of Dutch oven are completely covered.  Add bay leaves and thyme, stir well to combine.  Increase heat to high and bring to boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally for 3 ¹⁄₂ to 4 hours.  As water evaporates, add more 2 to 3 cups at a time.  Season with salt and pepper to taste. 

5. Remove bay leaves and thyme.  Serve with pasta and Parmesan cheese.  This recipe makes enough sauce for two to four pounds of pasta, depending on how saucy you like your pasta. 

Comments
This recipe is from Anne Burrell via Food Network.  She is a nut and I love her.  I’ve never actually made Bolognese from scratch before and, for whatever reason, I thought it would be fun to try and a good way to use up three entire pounds of ground beef. 

Lance declared this the perfect spaghetti sauce.  He prefers his sauce to be on the meaty side and this certainly qualifies.  I’m not sure where I stand in the sauce spectrum.  I appreciate tomato-based sauces as well as a good meaty sauce.  I guess it just depends on my mood!

I did add bacon and mushrooms to the recipe which, I believe, enhanced the flavors in the sauce.  This clearly got Lance’s vote and Art and I both enjoyed the sauce as well.  This recipe is definitely a keeper.

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