Delicious Homemade Fettuccine Bolognese. I struggle with the concept of “time off.” It either results in copious amounts of day drinking, followed by nap time and copious amounts of the night drinking, or, in drastic contrast, this strange hyperactivity that leads to things like cleaned-out closets, over-tweezed eyebrows, and meals made up of the entire contents of my fridge and pantry. In either scenario, things can get weird.
So when last week left me with an extra three days off, I was left wondering how to stop myself from attacking my storage space and actually relax while still sparing my liver. (Crickets.)
Naturally, I retreated to the kitchen, and in the end, I came up with this Delicious Homemade Fettuccine Bolognese. It’s a little time-consuming compared to other bolognese recipes, but frankly, on this particular day, that was the point. And all the extra love that goes into it more than makes up for itself in flavor. Pancetta, ground beef, pork, and veal combine to give the sauce a nice richness, balanced out by fresh tomatoes and sage.
I like to use egg noodles for this recipe – they hold up well against the sauce and absorb more flavor than regular pasta. The original Delicious Homemade Fettuccine Bolognese recipe calls for a little cream at the end, but as always, I prefer cheese.
Delicious Homemade Fettuccine Bolognese
Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons butter- 3 slices pancetta - thin slices (about 1/4 in thick), finely chopped
1 large yellow onion - diced
1 medium carrot - peeled and diced
1 stalk celery - peeled and diced
½ pound ground beef (minced beef)
½ pound ground pork (minced pork)
½ pound ground veal (minced veal)
1½ teaspoon salt
1½ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg- ½ cup dry white wine
2 cups beef stock (beef broth or beef bouillon)
2 large tomatoes - chopped
5 leaves sage - fresh
1 piece bay leaf (bay leaves)- 1 pound egg pasta - such as De Cecco Egg Fettuccine
½ cup Parmesan cheese - grated
½ cup pecorino romano cheese - grated
Instructions
- Using a large, Dutch oven or a heavy-bottomed pan, preheat 2 tablespoons butter and two turns of the pan’s worth of olive oil over medium heat.
- Sauté the pancetta until crispy (about three minutes). Add the onion, carrot, and celery and sauté an additional eight minutes or so. Remove from the pan, reserving the cooking oil.
- Use a little more oil if necessary, and add the meat to the pan. Season generously with salt and pepper and a good-sized pinch of ground nutmeg. Break up the meat into smaller pieces using a wooden spoon. Brown on all sides.
- Return the vegetables and pancetta to the pan and add the wine. Simmer until the sauce almost completely evaporates. (About a quarter of the liquid should be left in the pan.) Add the stock and reduce it by half. Add the tomatoes, sage, and bay leaf. Reduce heat to low. Cover the pan, and simmer for an hour and a half, stirring occasionally.
- Check the sauce roughly 20 minutes prior to serving. If it seems thin, remove the cover and simmer until thick and fragrant. Taste and adjust seasoning. Remove the sage and bay leaf and discard.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Season generously with salt. Cook pasta per package instructions, less than a minute or two. Remove the pasta from the sauce and allow it to finish cooking there to absorb more flavor. Toss the pasta and the sauce together with the Parmesan and Pecorino Romano until the cheese is melted. Serve immediately.
