Bolognese/meat sauce

This Bolognese sauce recipe was originally developed by one Hungry Aspiring Actor, the best friend of my boyfriend. It was very meat heavy made with light white wine, small amounts of vegetable base and tomato paste - in essence, a "manly" sauce (and apparently, more authentic, according to Wikipedia). But because I'm a sissy and I like my veggie and tomato flavors, this recipe is like the illegitimate love-child of me and Bolognese sauce...so I don't know if I can still call it "Bolognese" but it is certainly still a very good meat sauce.

"Bolognese" meat sauce:

• 1/2 bunch celery (4-6 stalks), finely chopped
• 3-4 medium carrots, finely chopped
• 2-3 small onions, finely chopped
• 4-5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 lb ground pork, NOT extra-lean
• 1 lb ground beef (optional: fattest possible ~70%/30%)
• ~ 3 Tbsp olive oil
• ~1/2-1 Tbsp butter
• 1 (6oz.) can tomato paste
• 2 small can (8oz.) tomato sauce
• 1 cup red/white wine
• 1/2 - 1 cup milk
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Italian seasoning (optional)

Chopping up the veggies is probably the most time-consuming part of this whole ordeal... if you're lazy, get a small and cheap food processor to do the work for you. I was really craving veggies this time, so I threw in a whole bunch of celery... I don't think I will do that again in the future. Throw all the veggies into a large enamel pot with enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pot and butter. This is called the "mirepoix". I really used too much veggies this time...

Cook the veggies on medium-low heat, careful not to brown it. The point is to sweat the veggies not to burn them.

When the onion is translucent and melty, it's time to add the meat.

Now mix the meat and mirepoix. Add ample salt and pepper, a palm full of Italian seasoning, and the garlic.

Now you can also turn the heat up to medium. Let the mixture sit a while to brown the meat. Once the bottom is brown, mix again and scrap off the tasty brown bits. This is why an enamel pot is best for cooking this, because non-stick pans doesn't brown the meat as well. Look at the oil coming off!

Once the meat is browned to your liking, you can add the tomato paste.

Stir it up and let it the flavors sink in, about 3 minutes. Then add the tomato sauce and mix well.

Cook this for about 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. The tomato flavor should really settle and marry with the meat. After this is done, add 1 cup of red or white wine. I had some Argentinean malbec left in my fridge so I just used that.

Mix the wine in and cook until there's no more alcohol smell... which can be a little tricky. I just wait about 5 -10 minutes, all the alcohol should be evaporated out. Then in goes the milk.

Now mix that too, and cook for another 5-10minutes or so. There's a lot of mixing in this recipe... You're pretty much done after this step. Just cook it to your satisfaction and serve with pasta. The pasta and sauce should be mixed in the pot before serving onto a plate to ensure best flavor!

That's it. Now the hungry students gets to eat. Finally. We didn't have any parmesan reggiano cheese that day :( but it's best with some flaked (not grated) parmesan on top. Mmmm nom nom...

It takes roughly 2.5-3 hours to make this, including prep. The plus side is there will be plenty of left over sauce. One batch can usually last two Hungry Students 3 meals or so. So you save time in the long run... opportunity costs?