Dad's Bolognese Sauce Circa 1934

Bill Pavin

Looking for a great use of your abundant summer tomato and fresh herb harvest? My dad has a great red sauce recipe that screams vitamin value with fresh produce from the garden.
 
The basic style of Dad’s sauce originated from my grandparents land lady in 1934.  It is a Genoa style Bolognese sauce. Bolognese is an Italian meat based red sauce, originating in the city of Bologna, Italy. Ground beef, beef short ribs or pork short ribs or a combination of both can be used. Bill has called it his modified Marinara, because he sometimes eliminates the use of meat and always uses anchovies or capers for flavor, which is typical of Marinara.

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Ingredients:
 
1 large 106 oz can of tomato sauce (or 5-6 pounds of garden grown roma tomatoes, or a combination of large beef steak, romas, and vine tomato variety ground in food processor)
4 small 6 oz cans of tomato paste or 2/ 12oz
1 lb of pork ribs or short ribs with bone
Olive Oil ( try Tuscan Herb from The Olive Tap)
1 cup or more of chicken broth
Lean flat King Oscar anchovies
1 large sweet onion (garden grown if possible)
4-5 cloves of garlic
1 large green pepper or 2 medium (garden grown if possible)
2 medium carrots (garden grown if possible)
2 stalks of celery  (garden grown if possible)
Worcestershire sauce
1.5 cup of red wine
1 cup of freshly grated pecorino romano cheese or parmesan reggiano
1 tblspn of local honey
Dried Italian seasoning
Fresh basil, flat leaf Italian parsley, oregano (garden grown if possible)
Ground black pepper
Ground sea salt

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Method:

In a large pot, combine the tomato sauce and paste and put on medium high.
 
In a cast iron pan, use a generous amount of olive oil approximately 3-4 tablespoons (preferably Olive Tap’s Tuscan Herb) and turn to medium-high heat.
Cut up short ribs and brown in pan on medium-high approximately 8-10 minutes, turning over half way through. Turn on low for remaining 3-5 minutes
Add 1 cup of chicken broth to the tomato sauce and then add the browned meat.
 
Blend up the carrots, celery, onion, green pepper and flat parsley in food processor. Add additional olive oil to the cast iron pan and sauté the vegetables on medium heat for 3-5 minutes. Then add to the sauce.
 
Grate a cup of cheese (pecorino romano  or parmesan reggiano) and finely chop the can of anchovies and add to the sauce. Chop a bunch of fresh basil (approximately 10 large leaves) and remove leaves from 3 sprigs of fresh oregano and add to the sauce. Bury the top of the sauce with dried Italian seasoning, grind in fresh sea salt and black pepper (a sprinkle) and stir.
 
Add a tablespoon of honey, drizzle some Worcestershire sauce and add cup and a half of red wine, stir and bring to a boil. Then turn to low simmer for 4 hours.
Taste half way through and add ground salt and black pepper to taste.
 
Enjoy on top of pasta of choice and sprinkle with parmesan reggiano and cut fresh basil. Mangia!
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