bolognese

One of my favorite stories to tell about my grandmother was how she would always wake up at an ungodly hour in the morning each day and start cooking. I’m talking 4am. At the time I thought it was because she liked cooking so much, but now I’m realizing (as I’m wide awake writing this at 2am) that much like myself these days, she probably didn’t sleep much, and cooking was likely a way that she quelled the non-sleep angst. In the mornings when I stayed at my grandparent’s home, I would wake up to smells of homemade tomato sauce, crossed with Folgers coffee brewing in an electric kettle, crossed with butter bubbling in a frying pan for the pancakes she would be making for my grandfather for when he woke up. I’d stumble into the kitchen, blurry eyed, to so much action for so early in the morning, my grandmother scurrying about. In that tiny kitchen there was also a little work table, covered with a plastic tablecloth, that she used mostly for making fresh pasta which she would bring down to the unfinished basement to dry on top of the washer machine. When I was a kid I thought that all grandmothers woke up at 4am and made tomato sauce and dried pasta on their washer machines in the basement.

Every Sunday we would have some of that pasta and some of that red sauce... and every once in a while, the red sauce would have meat in it. My grandmother’s bolognese. I’d always have multiple servings, and each serving would be accompanied by a massive dollop of ricotta cheese, the really low-brow kind that came in a red and white plastic container. Sundays were family day. Sundays were the day we would all gather for an early dinner and my Grandmother would make sure every single inch of the table would be covered with plates of food. 

I’ve been thinking about those Sundays a lot, especially since my current Sunday situation feels super weird and off. Before all of this, I didn’t have a Sunday tradition like I did growing up; however, the lack of structure on the weekends that I typically crave during normal times has made me feel a bit lost and melancholy while in these quarantine times. And for someone who is as social as I am, constantly out and about and constantly around people, the weekends are extra salt in the solitude wound. The first few Sundays, I was drowning in puddle of overwhelming emotions, spending too much time concerned about the future and the massive uncertainatins swirling around us, and not enough time focusing on just being. So after two Sundays of that, I was over the emotion-coaster, and decided it was time to turn the weekends around.

One of the ways I’ve come up with to overcome the Sunday ups and downs was to create little rituals for myself. Two Sundays ago I packed up a notebook and pencil, a mini bottle of wine and a snack, and walked to a nearby park. I found a nice cozy spot in the sunshine (away from people, of course), poured myself a glass of wine, and started writing about all the beautiful moments that happened over the past week. It took me a few lines to get into it, but once the thoughts started coming they were pouring out. Four pages later, I couldn’t believe I had that much that made me smile, and that much to be grateful for right now. Everything from the way a light breeze feels on my skin, to the taste of buttery bananas, to being woken up at 6am to a very enthusiastic phone call from my best friend. Things that I might not normally consider profoundly beautiful moments, they are what I have right now, and they’re perfect. This exercise is now my new Sunday ritual, and I love it so much. When I walked home that afternoon after spending all that time focusing on the good, I felt like I was walking on air, lighter, happier, ready to dive into the week ahead.

One of the other actives that I planned last week to break up the weekend was a virtual bolognese party that I hosted at the suggestion of my friend, Atay. Back in NYC, our friends get together for bolognese night every month or so during the winter as a way to catch up with each other, eat comforting bowls of meaty carbs, drink too much wine, and laugh the winter blues away. Gosh, how I miss that so much, and I will never take it for granted when I can do it again, but I have to say that this recently virtual bolognese party brought me just as much joy, if not more. For our virtual dinner party, I sent out an invite along with the recipe to my bolognese crew. We then each separately prepared the bolognese, in our homes, and then gathered on zoom and ate it together. To see so many of my friends make their versions of my bolognese and enjoy it in their home brought me so much joy. I am usually the one cooking for everyone, but to be able to still spread the love that I have for feeding people in the only real way I can right now, made my heart so happy. And now I want to spread that joy, and my recipe for bolognese, with you so you can make your own version in your home.

Since bowls of carbs are having a moment right now, this comfort recipe is perfect for current times because it requires few ingredients that are mostly pantry or vegetable staples that we usually have lying around. And the wine, I am assuming we are all well stocked with wine right now. You can feel free use either red or white wine here…. Or whatever wine it is you want to drink while your sauce is simmering on the stove.

If you have made traditional bolognese before, you will notice that my recipe does not use milk. I cut the milk from this recipe when I was eliminating dairy, and I found that I actually preferred the results without it, so I encourage you to try it and see what you think. Lastly, if you wanted to make this meat-free, you could use a vegetarian ground meat substitute (a friend of mine did that, and she said it worked well), or you could great creative and use a mix of vegetables such as riced cauliflower and mushrooms.

BOLOGNESE

SERVES
4

INGREDIENTS 

3 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons of olive oil 
1 ½ cup of yellow onion, sliced (about 1 large onion) 
5-7 cloves of garlic, minced
1lb of ground beef (80% lean) (or ¾lb of beef and ¼lb of pork OR ⅓ beef, ⅓ pork, ⅓ lamb)
1-2 teaspoons of salt 
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup of dry white wine 
28oz of canned (Italian) plum tomatoes, with their juices 
1 ½ lbs of pasta (for bolognese use either a flat, long noodle such as fettuccini, or a short, tube pasta such as rigatoni) 

To serve: some torn basil or chopped parsley, and shaved parm 

METHOD

In a medium saucepan, heat the butter and olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for several minutes, until soft. Add the garlic and cook for another 2 minutes, until fragrant. Then, add the meat, salt, and black pepper. Cook the meat, while stirring and breaking apart, until the meat is cooked through and no longer raw. Add the wine, and lower the heat to medium-low. Simmer the meat, stirring occasionally, until the wine is about 95% evaporated. This should take about 20-30 minutes. Then add the tomatoes, and break the tomatoes apart with the spoon. Lower the heat to a very low, lazy simmer. Cook, uncovered, for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally. If it gets too dry and is sticking, add a splash of water. About half way through, taste and add additional salt and pepper, if necessary. 

When you’re ready to serve, prepare the pasta. Bring a large pot of water, that is salted like the sea (very salty) to a boil. Add the pasta, and cook for 2 minutes less than the suggested time on the package. Transfer the cooked pasta to the bolognese sauce (it should not be done cooking, you’re going to finish cooking the pasta in the sauce). Add the remaining tablespoon of butter, and finish cooking the pasta in the sauce, while stirring, until the pasta is al dente (about 2-3 minutes). Plate and top with the parm, and herbs.