The Advantage of a Homemade Bolognese

The homemade Bolognese, or meat sauce, is a quintessential addition to any well-rounded cook's repertoire. I must stress the importance of the "homemade" portion of that sentence. The difference between a store-bought marinara with some ground beef in it, and the slowly simmered sauce chock-full of the meaty flavors characteristic of the dish is incomparable.



Bolognese, believe it or not, doesn't really have a lot of tomato base at all, nor is it really all that "saucy." It's mostly meat, simmered slowly until tender, so that all the flavors can meld together to create a very thick sauce with quite a bit of depth to it. Traditionally speaking, the ingredients include pancetta, olive oil, butter, onions, carrots, celery, ground beef and pork, white wine, tomato paste, salt, pepper, nutmeg, chicken stock, and a little heavy cream to top it off. See, not much tomato at all mentioned there! We tend to get lost in the commercialized version of a "bolognese," that jarred red sauce with some meat stirred in it.

There are many modern variations on the Bolognese, and one of my favorites is from the Stir cookbook, by Barbara Lynch. Her recipe is one of the stars on the menu at her restaurant, The Butcher Shop. Its flavors are based on ground veal, lamb, and pork, along with some finely chopped chicken livers and it makes for an extremely robust sauce. As the flavors meld over the course of a few hours, they develop into a very rich sauce that is just perfect over a plate of homemade fettuccine. Make a large batch and freeze half for later! It will also keep in the refrigerator for a few days...leftover Bolognese truly is a treat!

If you really enjoy a "saucy" sauce, Giada De Laurentiis has a simple Bolognese sauce which uses a can of crushed tomatoes and ground beef. It can be found in her book, Everyday Italian. This recipe is a bit more mainstream, and much more stereotypical, but if you have a penchant for all things tomato-y, you might like this recipe better. I will say that I prefer the traditional to the mainstream. If I wanted a marinara sauce, I would make a marinara sauce.



If you want to try making Bolognese, remember to be patient. It takes time for those flavors to develop, and this is not a short process. Take a Sunday afternoon and really work with it...and try a few different recipes before committing to one for life! You'll find the balance that you like, the flavors you enjoy most, and maybe even create your own award-winning Bolognese! If you find one you especially like, please share, as I'm always looking for the next great recipe!

Take a break! Have some coffee!

Happy National Coffee Break day, everyone! In honor of this special day, I would like to pay homage coffee, as an ingredient!



Coffee, in all its forms, is a wonderful addition to chilis, rubs, marinades and of course, desserts. Recipes call for beans, grounds, instant, and brewed...but no matter how you start, coffee adds quite a punch to dishes. It has a natural acidity that makes coffee good for tenderizing meat as well. Marinating the meat in something with acidity will cause the meat to break down and be moist and succulent once cooked.  Incorporating ground coffee into a dry rub for burgers, steak and short ribs brings a lot of smokiness to a dish, and you'll instantly find the difference between using it and not. You can also brew coffee to use in a wet marinade. Try Short Ribs Braised in Coffee Ancho Chile Sauce for an example of spice and the smoky flavor of coffee combining in this southwestern-inspired dish. Plan ahead, you need to cook short ribs for a good 3-4 hours to get the meat really soft and falling off the bone.

Many chili recipes use brewed coffee as an ingredient. Coffee goes well with spice, as we've already seen, and adds smokiness to a dish that's well, supposed to be smoky and spicy! :) Here's a recipe for a Chocolate Stout Chili. Chocolate and coffee go well together as well, and chocolate is one of my favorite things to throw in chili, it adds a richness without even knowing that it's chocolate that you're eating!



Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the BEST coffee dessert ever. Affogato (Italian for "drowned") is an italian dessert made with scoops of gelato, or ice cream. Hot coffee, or espresso, is then poured over the ice cream, and it is DELICIOUS! The ice cream melts a bit, the coffee cools down a bit, the flavors mix, and it's like a very sophisticated version of an ice cream float! Here, Giada De Laurentiis shows us one way to make Affogato.

I hope this posting left your mouth watering with a craving to try coffee in ways other than in a cup first thing in the morning! Expand your horizons, and put those ingredients to use in unexpected ways!