It took a lot of work to create this tagliatelle Bolognese, which does not include the usual red beef sauce. An exquisite beef sauce known as bolognese is cooked for hours to bring out the fantastic tastes of each component. To achieve a satiny, creamy texture from the starches in the pasta, combine it with tagliatelle or your favorite type of pasta. Bring a loaf of crusty Italian bread to the table.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 2 hrs 40 mins |
| Total Time: | 3 hrs |
| Servings: | 8 |
Ingredients
- 4 ounces pancetta bacon, finely diced
- 3 carrots, finely diced
- 3 stalks celery, finely diced
- 2 onions, finely diced
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 pound 85% lean ground beef
- 1 pound ground pork
- ½ cup dry white wine
- 1 (28 ounce) can San Marzano whole peeled tomatoes, drained
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 1 cup beef stock
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 1 (16 ounce) box tagliatelle pasta
- ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese, or to taste
Instructions
- Cook pancetta in a pan over medium heat until it has released its fat and is crisp, 7 to 8 minutes. Add carrots, celery, and onions; cook until vegetables soften and onions are translucent, 7 to 8 minutes. Set aside.
- Heat olive oil in a 4-quart pot over medium heat. Break ground beef and pork into small chunks and add them to the pot; cook, stirring lightly, until browned, 7 to 8 minutes.
- Stir pancetta-vegetable mixture into ground meat. Add wine. Reduce heat to medium-low and stir, breaking up meat until finely ground, until wine has evaporated and the pot is almost dry, 13 to 15 minutes. Add tomatoes, nutmeg, salt, and red pepper. Use the back of a spoon to break up tomatoes and continue to break down meat mixture into tiny bits, about 5 minutes.
- Pour beef stock and heavy cream into the pot and reduce heat to lowest setting. Simmer, partially covered and stirring occasionally, for at least 2 hours.
- Meanwhile, fill a large pot with lightly salted water and bring to a rolling boil. Cook tagliatelle at a boil until tender yet firm to the bite, about 8 minutes. Reserve 1 cup pasta water and drain well.
- Stir pasta into Bolognese sauce and mix well, adding a little reserved pasta water if needed to develop a satiny coating. Top with grated Parmesan cheese.
- You may be able to find pre-diced pancetta at the grocery store.
- If serving 4 portions, remove 1/2 of the Bolognese for future use (it freezes very well).
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 607 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 55 g |
| Cholesterol | 95 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 5 g |
| Protein | 34 g |
| Saturated Fat | 10 g |
| Sodium | 544 mg |
| Sugars | 9 g |
| Fat | 27 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I made a portion to test this. Reading reviews about this being bland, I used 1/4 lb Italian sausage and 1/2 lb ground beef for a third of the recipe and adjusted the other ingredients accordingly. I let mine bake in a 350 degree oven for a couple of hours and checked it every half hour, stirring and adding homemade well seasoned chicken broth instead of beef broth, as needed. The results were divine. I had no tagliatelle so (gasp) combined the sauce with spaghetti. This will be a repeat at our house.
This was excellent! Please don’t try to improve on perfection.
WOWSA! This tastes just like a famous restaurant version! Yippee. I only used ground beef. And I did freeze half for another time. I brought fresh tagliatelle just for this recipe and I was delighted with the results.
Excellent bolognese! I followed the recipe to a T and the flavor is so well balanced. Well worth the effort to make this sauce! I’m gluten free and couldn’t find Tagliatelle so I used gluten free spaghetti. Thanks for sharing an awesome bolognese recipe, Howard!
Loved this indeed! The only change I made was using lentils instead of ground pork. This recipe is truly fantastic. The balance of flavor and ratio of meat to tomatoes is spot on. As my Italian husband ate this, he told me how it reminded him of his favorite trattoria when he was in high school in Novara. Thank you for the recipe, Howard.