Saturday, July 2, 2011

HEALTHIER BOLOGNESE SAUCE!



I am a big pasta eater ( does not show on my body weight though) name it and i eat it. I like pesto with fetuccine, I like macaroni and cheese well who doesn't and most importantly my grandmother's Spaghetti with meat sauce. I know all of you are asking yourselves, how can you make a healthier version? well I do, is all about the meats you use. I grew up eating this sauce my grandmother uses Veal, Ground Beef and Ground Pork and i have to say is to die for however it can get really expensive and just time consuming can you believe it has to simmer for about 5-6 hours? with that sauce you have to buy at least 10 lbs of tomatoes, boil them, remove the skins, then the seeds  who has the time? specially when you come home from work wanting to eat anything that is in sight! I came up with this recipe, once more the flavor is just as good but you cut the cooking time by adding a few store bought items and you maintain the quality by YES ( I know some of you guessed it) using your favorite wine that adds the flavor like is been cooking for hours.

The Recipe is as follows:

2 tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 teaspoon of dry basil
1 teaspoon of dry oregano
2 Onions finely chopped
8 garlic cloves chopped
1/4 cup tomato paste
4 Carrots finely chopped
4 tomatoes finely chopped ( remove the seeds)
1 lb ground Turkey
1lb ground Chicken
1 teaspoon of salt
1teaspoon of pepper

1 cup of white wine
1 tablespoon of fresh basil for topping

1 cup of milk ( the milk is used to make the sauce stick to the pasta and richer you can use skim if you like)
1 jar of Bertolli Portobello mushroom sauce with merlot ( or use your favorite pasta sauce but please use a good one by adding this you cut the cooking time by about 5 hours believe it or not.)
Parmesan Cheese ( Pecorino or Reggiano cheese) use as much or as little as you like.

In a dutch oven cooker of pan of your choice add the 2 tablespoons of olive oil wait until is hot, then add the 2 onions with a pinch of salt, cook them until they are translucent add the carrots and the tomatoes saute them for about 5 minutes then add the 8 cloves of garlic and stir for one minute then add meats until they are completely brown add the teaspoon of salt and pepper keep stirring
once this is done add the tomato paste and the jar of pasta sauce, fill the jar with water and add to the sauce along with the dry basil and oregano and the cup of wine bring to a boil then to a  low heat  for about 1 hour  Taste it for seasonings, add more salt and pepper if needed. Add the milk the last 15 minutes of cooking time.

Start boiling the water for your favorite pasta ( I like penne) you can use whichever pasta you enjoy follow package instructions.


Serving suggestions:  1) you can either add the whole sauce to the pasta stir until well combined and serve on a plate ( this is if you have lots of guests they can serve themselves) 
2) take a plate put pasta then pour sauce on top then Parmesan cheese and top with the fresh basil, with this suggestion you can freeze the remaining sauce for about a month.

Note: if you want the richer version just use ground beef and pork is up to you.

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