We had an unsually strange winter this year. November was still warm and then as soon as Thanksgiving hit, a cold spell came across California. It was 70 degrees one week and then 40 the next. It was constantly raining and I was starting to really worry about my ocean bluff top wedding in December getting rained out. Thankfully it was the one dry weekend we had in December and the thermometer hit the upper 60s. We were in shock by how blessed we were.
After I did the beef bourguignon, I was itching to cook another dish in my Le Creuset. I love my kitchenware and in the beginning, when I first got my All-Clad, I used things sparingly; still prefering my $20 ghetto wok from Ranch 99. Nowadays, we have the same wok leftover from Sam’s bachelor days and I’ll reach for it occasionally but now I’ve been consistently using my All-Clad.
This past weekend, it felt bone-chilling cold (at least for California! and I got the idea to do a bolognese sauce (text only recipe here!) the slow way. I love the local neighborhood grocery we have here in PA where I can get high quality ground meats.
Since I was obsessed with making my perfect Bolognese at 9PM, please excuse the bad lighting in the pictures. I busted out the Le Creuset again and took a quick pic of the big one with the mini one:
Ingredients:
I have a food processor but there’s just something about prepping and chopping everything from scratch. I move my set of Shun knives into the house a few weeks ago and the knife block has found a happy home on the counter.
I love my Le Creuset but kept hearing about how over time it’ll start browning on the interior. Also I like the sear I get off off of a traditional pan.
Start out with a good swirl of oil in a hot pan. I used Canola oil in this case. Pour in the mireproix (carrots/celery/onions) and saute until they are soft and translucent. This process took me about 10 minutes. 
Add in the mountain of mushrooms.Traditional bolognese doesn’t have mushroom but I love having the depth that mushrooms give even though I simmered this pot for about 10 hours. The mushrooms will emit quite a bit of liquid. Just keep saute-ing until the mireproix and mushrooms is nicely browned and dry.
The entire mountain of mushrooms will shrink down.
Start the meat to brown in the same pan, saute and use the spatula to break the meat all up.
Make sure all the fat has rendered out and the ground meat is brown and crumbly.
Add in the milk and let it simmer and evaporate until the meat is dry again.
When the milk has evaporated, add in the wine and repeat.
I used a sauvignon blanc that we had but any good dry white wine works. Remember to use a good enough wine to drink.I used the wine to also deglaze all of the browned yummy bits stuck to the pan.
Place everything into the Le Creuset and add in the diced tomatoes along with all their juices. Mix and simmer for at least 4 hours!
Finished product:
I made this and let it simmer through the following day. I followed it up by making a homemade papperdelle with Sam’s help when we were rolling out the dough. I really need to get the KitchenAid pasta roller attachment…
While my pot of bolognese was happily bubbling away on the back burner, I realized that I had spent the last 2 hours chopping and simmering and completely missed dinner. I dug into the fridge and dug out two slices of bread and made myself dinner.
by Vicky
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