Bolognese Sauce

The final sauce in the Great Sauce Search of 2010. And the story goes something like this.

My absolute favorite Boston farmers/flea market is down in the South End on Sunday's (they are open from the late spring to the late fall). While wandering through the vintage market with my cup of coffee I was struck to see a beautiful, enormous red stock pot. I tried not to run (or skip) over to it. Honestly I thought it was too good to be true. Here was this amazing 16 quart stock pot, brand new, just waiting on a shelf for me. I made an offer and voila! It was mine. And I knew just what I was going to use it for first.

I made a couple of quick stops at the new butcher shop down the street from my house and a local bakery for bread and I was finally ready to cook.

Honestly, for a sauce like this, I just throw stuff into the pot. I think this is the first time I've written down my recipe for Bolognese. And please keep in mind that this makes A TON of sauce - but I had my giant new pot, so I was okay. If you are using a standard sauce/stock pot, I would reduce all of the ingredients by half. This is perfect to make on a cool Sunday afternoon.

Ingredients:
2 tbs extra-virgin olive oil
2 1 inch rounds of pancetta (just ask your butcher to cut these for you like this), diced into small cubes
4 lbs of lean ground beef (I prefer 93% lean)
3 medium onions, finely chopped
4 to 6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 stalks celery, peeled and finely chopped
2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
1 tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 to 2 tbs crushed red pepper
1 1/2 cups rich red wine - I use Chianti or Malbec because that's what I have on hand usually
2 28 ounce cans whole tomatoes, drain the liquid (do not discard) and smoosh the tomatoes with your hands and add back into the liquid
2 28 or 32 ounce cans crushed tomatoes
1 14 oz can of chopped tomatoes
3 tbs tomato paste
3 dried bay leaves
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:
In a large stock pot, heat the oil over a medium flame.

Add the cubes of pancetta and saute until they are just starting to brown and the fat has started to render. Remove the pancetta from the pan and add the meat in 3 batches to the oil/fat to brown, removing the meat after each batch has cooked. Ideally, the meat will brown and begin to crumble. Don't worry if you have some larger chunks of meat, they will reduce while the sauce cooks.

Add the onions and garlic to the remaining oil/fat. If you have used less lean ground beef you may want to take out some of the extra grease at the bottom of the pan - carefully. Saute until the onions are translucent, about 10 minutes.

Add the celery, carrots, and 1 teaspoon of each salt and pepper and red pepper flakes. Saute until all the vegetables are soft, about 7 minutes. Be careful and watch the pot - if you need to add more oil because the pan is getting dry do so in 1 tbs additions.

Add the wine and using the back of your spoon scrape up any brown bits on the bottom of the pot. Let the wine and vegetables simmer for about 1 to 2 minutes.

Add the tomatoes, tomato paste and bay leaves, and simmer uncovered over low heat for 1 hour, then cover and continue to let the sauce simmer for about 2 additional hours. Stir every 15 to 20 minutes.

Remove and discard the bay leaves. Season the sauce with more salt and pepper, to taste and serve.

Notes:
As always you can freeze this sauce (especially if you make this giant pot of sauce) for about a month.
When I serve a sauce like this I like to use a small pasta with ridges or scoops of some kind so it will hold onto the sauce.
Serve with shavings of fresh Parmesan Cheese and chopped basil