Le Chef’s Wife Easy Bolognaise Sauce
This Bolognaise sauce is one of Le Chef’s all time favorite meals. He loves it so much that it has become our Sunday night ritual.
I open a bottle of red wine ( likely a Bordeaux or a rich Bandol), pour each of us a glass and start cooking as Le Chef winds down from his Sunday brunch service and we talk about our day and the week ahead. I chop carrots, onions, and garlic as I put the pasta water to boil. I add another little sauce pan onto the stove to boil water for our daughter’s carrots. I brown meat in our Le Creuset Flame Cocotte and savor the smell of garlic & onions in the pan before adding a splash of my wine to deglaze the pan. I know these movements by heart, they are almost therapeutic to me. I sip my wine and turn to my husband. “Quel fromage tu prèferes, mon amour?” There is always a selection of cheeses in our fridge. Would Le Chef prefer Parmesan, Gruyere or Mozzarella on his Spaghetti Bolognaise? More than the enjoyment of a good meal, it is the ritual of the preparation that is so important to us. There is a sense of occasion around our Sunday night Bolognaise which far outweighs the nobility of the dish and yet, it is its rustic simplicity that makes it all that more appealing.
Over the years I have added different ingredients but each time that I have varied from my recipe, Le Chef lets me know he prefers the original. I should point out that this is not the traditional Bolognaise meat sauce from Bologna, but it is our version of it and we love it.
Ingredients:
1 lb Ground beef ( as lean as possible and Organic if you can get it)
2 Carrots
1 handful of mushrooms ( button or Cremini)
½ an onion
2 cloves garlic
Handful of Kalamata olives ( this is to taste, add as many, or as few as you like)
Basil ( same as the olives, I add a lot!)
1 teaspoon Chili flakes
½ teaspoon Sea Salt
Ground Pepper (3 turns of the pepper mill)
Olive oil
½ Cup red wine
1 28oz can of crushed tomatoes
-I personally like Dave’s Gourmet Roasted Garlic & Sweet Basil Pasta Sauce, it is not too sweet. Diced tomatoes also work very well here.
Mise en Place** -
Dice the onions, garlic, carrots and mushrooms. I place the onions & garlic together in one little bowl and the carrots in another.
Slice the olives ( for Kalamata olives I slice them length wise, I like to leave them in fleshy chunks!)
“Chiffonade” the basil. (Take all the leaves, place them one on top of each other and roll them up like a burrito. You can then slice them lengthwise and it makes nice thin strips of basil.)
** The concept of “Mise En Place”, or “preparation” is something I have adopted from Le Chef. Professional cooks know that a good “Mise en Place” is the key to having a good night in the kitchen. No one wants to run to chop onions or search for the olive jar that you know is “somewhere” in the middle of cooking. I make sure to chop all my ingredients before I begin so that I am not worried about cooking times during the process. Be kind to yourself, you don’t need the extra stress.
Heat your sauce pan on medium high and add some olive oil to the pan.
When the oil has heated, but is not too hot, add the onions and garlic. Stir frequently until they start to become translucent - you do not want them to burn. Been there, done that, not pretty.
Sautée the onions & garlic
Add in the ground beef. I use my spoon to separate the chunks , ensuring all the while that the onions and garlic do not burn. Let the meat brown, stirring frequently. This is when I add a pinch of salt, ground pepper and some chili flakes. When the meat has started to cook through and the pan starts to sizzle again, add in a half cup of red wine. This is my favorite part! The smell is AMAZING! Make sure to use a spatula and scrape up the browned bits that stick to the bottom of the pan. This is where all the flavor is!
Now I add in the carrots, the olives and only half of the basil. Then I add my crushed tomatoes and the mushrooms. I fold in everything together.
Simmer Sauce for 25 minutes
Reduce the heat to a medium low, cover & let simmer for 25 minutes, stirring every few minutes or so.
Now you can take out a stockpot of water to boil for your pasta. I add a tablespoon of salt to the water because, as my Sardinian friend, Roberta, once told me, the water for pasta should be like the Mediterranean - salty!
I also like to use this time for cleaning the kitchen. I am not as good as my husband is at cleaning as I go, but I don’t enjoy eating while looking at the mess so I make quick work of the kitchen before the sauce is done.
Once your water has boiled, cook the pasta of your choice as per the specifications on the box and time it so that the pasta will be done at the same time as your sauce. Don’t worry if the sauce cooks longer, just add a spoonful of pasta water into the sauce if it starts to get too dry.
A few minutes before the sauce is done, add the rest of the basil that you chopped up earlier and mix it in.
Drain the pasta when it is cooked to your liking.
Now, here is where opinions differ. In a restaurant, a Chef would marry the sauce together with the pasta, mix it together in the sauce pan so that the sauce coats every inch of the pasta before serving, but I always have several meals on my mind so I want to make sure to have enough to freeze for another day’s quick meal. I like to portion out the pasta, using tongs so that I can get that sexy spaghetti swirl, sprinkle a bit of olive oil over the noodles so that they do not stick together and then add a very generous heap of sauce over the top. Before serving I add the cheese of choice and then a tiny sprig of basil if I am feeling fancy.
Et voilà!
Bon Appetit!
P.S. After our meal I portion out the sauce in individual portion sized Tupperwares to freeze for another day’s quick meal. If you are feeling ambitious you can also make a lasagna with the leftover sauce…mmmmm
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La Bolognaise
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 25
- Total Time: 35 minutes
Description
A simple yet rich & robust Bolognaise style meat sauce for pasta. This is one of Le Chef’s all time favorite meals. He loves it so much that it has become our Sunday night ritual. I use this same sauce as a base for many of my favorite dishes including Eggplant Lasagna.
Ingredients
Ingredients:
1 lb Ground beef ( as lean as possible and Organic if you can get it)
2 Carrots
1 handful of mushrooms ( button or Cremini)
½ an onion
2 cloves garlic
Handful of Kalamata olives ( this is to taste, add as many, or as few as you like)
Basil ( same as the olives, I add a lot!)
1 teaspoon Chili flakes
½ teaspoon Sea Salt
Ground Pepper (3 turns of the pepper mill)
Olive oil
½ Cup red wine (this can be omitted if you are cooking for kids)
1 28 oz can of Crushed tomatoes
Instructions
Ingredients prep:
Dice the onions, garlic, carrots and mushrooms. I place the onions & garlic together in one little bowl and the carrots in another.
Slice the olives ( for Kalamata olives I slice them length wise, I like to leave them in fleshy chunks!)
“Chiffonade” the basil. (Take all the leaves, place them one on top of each other and roll them up like a burrito. You can then slice them lengthwise and it makes nice thin strips of basil.)
Heat your sauce pan on medium high and add some olive oil to the pan.
When the oil has heated, but is not too hot, add the onions and garlic. Stir frequently until they start to become translucent - you do not want them to burn.
Add in the ground beef. I use my spoon to separate the chunks , ensuring all the while that the onions and garlic do not burn. Let the meat brown, stirring frequently. This is when I add salt, ground pepper and some chili flakes. When the meat has started to cook through and the pan starts to sizzle again, add in a half cup of red wine. This is my favorite part! The smell is AMAZING! Make sure to use a spatula and scrape up the browned bits that stick to the bottom of the pan. This is where all the flavor is!
Now I add in the carrots, the olives and only half of the basil. Then I add my crushed tomatoes and the mushrooms. I fold in everything together.
Reduce the heat to a medium low, cover & let simmer for 25 minutes, stirring every few minutes or so.
Now you can take out a stockpot of water to boil for your pasta. I add a tablespoon of salt to the water because, as my Sardinian friend, Roberta, once told me, the water for pasta should be like the Mediterranean - salty!
Once your water has boiled, cook the pasta of your choice as per the specifications on the box and time it so that the pasta will be done at the same time as your sauce. Don’t worry if the sauce cooks longer, just add a spoonful of pasta water into the sauce if it starts to get too dry.
A few minutes before the sauce is done, add the rest of the basil that you chopped up earlier and mix it in.
Drain the pasta when it is cooked to your liking.
Now, here is where opinions differ. In a restaurant, a Chef would marry the sauce together with the pasta, mix it together in the sauce pan so that the sauce coats every inch of the pasta before serving, but I always have several meals on my mind so I want to make sure to have enough to freeze for another day’s quick meal. I like to portion out the pasta, using tongs so that I can get that sexy spaghetti swirl, sprinkle a bit of olive oil over the noodles so that they do not stick together and then add a very generous heap of sauce over the top. Before serving I add the cheese of choice and then a tiny sprig of basil if I am feeling fancy.
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