Sat, 10/06/2007 - 09:04 — Steffen
Traditional Bolognese meat sauce needs to simmer for a few hours, which isn't really suitable for a weeknight dinner. In my recipe, I use a pressure cooker to cut down on the preparation time. I find the result remarkably close to the real thing!
Ingredients
- 2 lb / 900 g ground beef, see Notes
- 2 medium onions, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 carrots, finely chopped
- 2 stalks celery, finely chopped
- 2 tomatoes, finely chopped
- 1 tsp salt (or to taste)
- 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup / 250 ml milk
- 1 cup / 250 ml dry white wine
- 3 tbsp tomato paste
- a pinch each of oregano, rosemary, sage and thyme
- 1 tbsp parsley, chopped
- parsley as garnish
- freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Preparation
- Set a pressure cooker (at least 5 qt / 5 l size) over medium-high heat. Add olive oil and onions. Cook until translucent and soft.
- Add garlic and cook for a minute. Then add meat. Cook while stirring until meat is no longer raw and red.
- Add chopped carrot and celery. Cook for a few minutes.
- Add milk and cook until the liquid has almost evaporated.
- Add wine and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated (leave enough for pressure cooking).
- Add tomatoes, salt and pepper. Put on lid and pressure cook at high pressure for about 20 minutes (reduce heat as necessary). Release pressure. Take off lid.
- Add oregano, rosemary, sage and thyme. Cook until liquid has evaporated.
- Stir in tomato paste and chopped parsley. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
- Serve over spaghetti with freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Garnish with parsley.
Notes
- I grind the meat myself in the food processor (faster and easier to clean than the meat grinder). Beef chuck is a good choice of cut.
- With the food processor already out, I also use it to chop onions, carrots and celery.
- The basic concepts for this recipe are from Marcella Hazan – Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking.
Preparation time about 1 - 1½ hours.
Yields 4-6 servings.