Ragu alla Bolognese

There are a ton of recipes out there for this pasta sauce and since I do not know a Bolognese nonna, I am going by my husband’s able and delicious version. He went on an all afternoon business trip yesterday and that gave me the time to simmer away.

A note: This version has a hint of cinnamon in it, this is highly irregular but we tried this dish at a restaurant in Rome and it was a surprisingly good combination. You can just leave the cinnamon out if you wish.

Ragu alla Bolognese
(For 4 people, and 1 little Chihuahua mix)

1 lg. carrot, finely chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
1-2 stalks of celery, finely chopped
Olive oil
1-2 bay leaves
½-2/3 cup milk
1 lg. can tomatoes
1 c. red wine
1 T. red wine vinegar
1-2 T. tomato paste
½ t. salt and a few good grinds of pepper
3 cinnamon sticks + ½ t. ground cinnamon (optional)

For the meat:
Ideally 1/3 lb. ground beef, pork and veal but ½ lb. ground pork and beef will do.

1. Heat a bit of olive oil in a large pot, add the onion, celery and carrots and sauté until soft, about 5-8 minutes. (The goal of this mixture is to have 1/3 of each ingredient, I process them all together because I‘m lazy.)
2. Add the meat and cook through, until there are no more pink spots.
3. Add wine, tomatoes, paste, salt and pepper, bay leaf, cinnamon, vinegar and let simmer with lid on for 1 hour. Stir occasionally. .
4. After 1 hour, add the milk, and simmer for another hour. The sauce should be slightly thick and so simmer with lid off if you have too much liquid. After 2 hours the meat should be soft and the sauce should be rich and a bit of a pale red, deep orange color.
5. Taste for salt; remove cinnamon sticks, and bay leaf.
6. Serve with Parmigiano and a thick pasta like fettuccini.