Wow! That is some major meat sauce! My sweetheart says it is perfect. It is.
Make this sauce and you will discover a level of cooking rarely available to the home chef.
Ingredients: (makes 3 to 3 1/2 quarts - 10 servings)
4 oz. of chicken livers
4 anchovy filets
1 tsp. of Marmite
1 tbsp. of soy sauce
2 cups of whole milk
1/2 cup of heavy cream
2 cups of chicken broth or stock
1/2 oz. of unflavored powdered gelatin (2 packets)
1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
4 tsp. of minced or finely grated garlic cloves
2 tsp. of dried oregano
A pinch of red pepper flakes
1, 28 oz. can of peeled plum tomatoes in juice, crushed or mashed to 1/2" chunks
4 oz. of pancetta, cut into 1/2" chunks (or two to three thick slices of dry cured hickory smoked bacon)
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 or 3 carrots, peeled and cut into a 1/4" dice (1 to 1 1/2 cups)
3 or 4 stalks of celery, cut into a 1/4" dice (1 to 1 1/2 cups)
4 tbsp. of unsalted butter
1 lb. of ground lamb
1 lb. of ground pork
1 lb. of ground beef (instead of ground veal)
1/4 cup of dried rubbed sage leaves
1, 750 ml. bottle of dry red or dry white wine
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup of dried basil
1/2 cup of fresh, minced parsley
2 oz. (or more) of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese finely grated
1 tsp. of Kosher salt or sea salt
1 tsp. of freshly ground black pepper
1, 24 to 32 ounce bottle of plain Marinara sauce
Directions:
Combine the chicken livers and anchovies with the Marmite and the soy sauce in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until finely ground, about 10 short pulses. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and set it aside. Note: I used a Magic Bullet® high speed miniature mixer and that was perfect ... Fast, and easy cleanup.
Combine the milk, heavy cream and chicken broth (or stock) in a bowl. Sprinkle that mixture with the gelatin and set it aside.
Heat two tbsp. of the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium high heat until the oil is shimmering. Add the garlic and oregano and pepper flakes and cook, stirring, for one minute. Add the crushed tomatoes with their juice and bring the mixture to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce has slightly thickened ... about 30 minutes. Then remove the sauce from the heat.
While the tomato sauce is simmering put the remaining two tbsp. of olive oil and the pancetta (or bacon) into a large Dutch oven and cook over medium high heat until the pancetta/bacon is softened and translucent, about six minutes.
Add the onion, carrots and celery and cook, stirring frequently, until the vegetables are softened but not browned, about 10 minutes. This works best by keeping the lid on the Dutch oven after each time you stir the mixture. When it is done, transfer the mixture to a large bowl.
Return the Dutch oven to medium high heat, add the butter and heat it until the foaming subsides. Add the lamb, the pork, the beef and the sage, mix well and then cook, stirring occasionally, until the meat is no longer pink.
Add the anchovy mixture, stir until homogenous, then cook for five minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the pancetta(or bacon)/vegetable mixture and stir to combine. Then add the wine and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to get only a simmer and cook until the wine is slightly reduced, about 15 minutes.
While the wine mixture simmers, blend the tomato mixture with an immersion blender until it is totally smooth, starting on low speed and increasing to high speed. Note: My sauce was already so smooth I didn't bother with this step.
Add the tomato mixture, the milk/cream mixture, the bay leaves, the basil, the parsley, the salt and the pepper to the Dutch oven and stir to combine. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a simmer and cover with a lid slightly ajar.
Cook for three hours, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is thick and rich.
At this point I like to skim the melted fat from the surface of the sauce with a large spoon or a ladle and discard it. I also remove and discard the bacon, which I prefer using rather than pancetta, as the slight addition of the hickory smoked flavor is great. Also, remove and discard the bay leaves.
Add the grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese to the sauce and stir until the cheese is melted and mixed into the sauce.
Remove the sauce from the heat and allow it to cool, covered, for 30 minutes.
You can use the sauce immediately but the flavor improves nicely if you let it rest, covered, overnight.
A sealed container of the sauce will keep for up to a week in the refrigerator. My bet is that it won't last that long because you will have eaten all of it within two to three days!
When you want to use the sauce, heat the amount needed on low heat in a saucepan while you cook the pasta of your choice in boiling water in a pot and then drain off the water in a colander when the pasta is done cooking. Rinse the pasta in the colander very lightly with cool water, very briefly, just enough to barely moisten the pasta so it doesn't stick together when you put it into a serving dish. Avoid making the pasta cold, but if that happens then rewarm it in the microwave oven. Alternatively, you can use a few tablespoons of olive oil after draining the hot pasta and mix it in well in a large bowl to keep the pieces of pasta from sticking to each other.
I like to keep the serving dish of pasta separated from the bolognese sauce until individual servings are made. That keeps any leftover pasta from absorbing the moisture in the sauce, which is very important to later have high quality leftovers.
Kenji also provided a recipe for Lasagna Bolognese in his book. We made it and we loved it! So I put that recipe (slightly modified) into Food Nirvana.
I suggest having additional grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese served with the meal. Either a nice medium red wine or cold beer will be fine beverages to serve. A small side salad is also nice.
Enjoy!