Pasta Bolognese

I was craving a Bolognese sauce, and came across David Lebovitz's recipe later that day. I bought the ingredients really soon after and made this on a Sunday afternoon. It smelled great cooking and tasted even better. I used Trader Joe's "Cascatelli" pasta, which I brought back from the US this last summer, because I can't find it over here.... in Italy. Lol. Ironic. This would be good with any pasta shape, though. 

Pictured below are the ingredients I used... mixed ground meat (beef, veal and pork), and a small tray of veggies. 

Pasta Bolognese 

adapted from David Lebovitz

3 tablespoons butter, salted or unsalted, plus 1 tablespoon for finishing the pasta
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup (60g) diced onions
1/2 cup (65g) diced celery
1/2 cup (65g) diced carrots, (peeled)
12 ounces (340g) ground beef (I used a mix of veal, beef, and pork)
1 teaspoon salt, or more to taste
freshly-ground black pepper
3/4 cup (180ml) whole milk
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1 cup (250ml) dry white wine
1 1/2 cups (350ml) canned plum tomatoes, crushed, with their juice
1 1/2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 pound (450g) pasta

1.  Melt the butter with the olive oil in a soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring frequently, until the onions are soft and translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the celery and carrots and cook, stirring a few times, until they start to wilt, 3 to 4 minutes.

2.  Add the ground beef/meat, salt, and some freshly ground pepper. Lower the heat to medium and cook, stirring, until the beef is no longer raw on the outside. Pour in the milk, and cook at a steady simmer, stirring occasionally, until the milk is absorbed. Add a dusting of nutmeg and the wine and continue to cook until the wine is mostly absorbed. (This should take about 10-15 minutes.)

3.  Add the tomatoes in their juice and the tomato paste. Let come close to a boil then lower the heat to as low as possible until the sauce is just barely bubbling. Cook the sauce uncovered for 1 hour, stirring every once in a while, until most of the liquid is absorbed but the mixture is still wet, rich and thick. You can use the sauce now, or you can cook it for another hour. Add up to 1/2 cup of water if it dries out too much.

4.  To serve, cook the pasta in lightly salted water as directed on the package. (Before draining, reserve a little of the pasta cooking water.) Drain the pasta and toss the hot pasta in the Bolognese sauce with 1 tablespoon of butter. If the sauce needs a bit of thinning out, add a little splash of the reserved pasta water.

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