- Here's an easy dinner
you'll make over and over. This is how to make our
family's favorite bolognese. Let's get started. You'll wanna have all of
your ingredients prepped and ready to go before
you fire up your stove. Chop up one medium yellow onion. You should have about 1
1/2 cups of chopped onion. (chuckles) It actually
hit my mouth (laughs). All right. Once you've dried your onion tears, set that aside, and we're gonna finely
chop up some celery. I find that if you finely chop it up, no one will be able to
tell it's in the sauce, but it does add some great sweetness and depth of flavor to the sauce. Next, peel one medium carrot, and you're gonna shred that on the large holes of a box grater. And this is my favorite box grater. It's actually brand new, but I had the same one for
years and finally replaced it. I will leave a link to this in the notes. Set the carrots aside, and we're gonna finely
chop up your garlic cloves. And just in case you
weren't paying attention, the best way to peel a garlic
clove is to chop off the end, smash it with the blunt side of the knife, and the skin should peel right off, then you can mince it up. Last but not least, finely chop up some fresh parsley. I've found that if you have
all of your ingredients prepped and ready to go, cooking becomes so much less
stressful and way more fun. I have my favorite six-quart dutch oven. Place that over medium heat
and add oil and butter. Once that butter melts, add your chopped onion and
stir for about three minutes or until the onion is
softened and translucent. Add celery and your carrots and stir for another five
minutes or until it's golden. Now, add your minced garlic and stir for just 30
seconds until it's fragrant. And with all those aromatics in there, this sure smells good. Now, add your ground meat. Traditionally, this is made with 1/2 beef and 1/2 ground pork. You can also use all ground beef if that's what you have on hand. Season that with salt and pepper, then cook the beef for
another five minutes, breaking it up with the
spatula until it's browned. Now, add your dry white wine, or you can use red wine if you prefer. Now, turn up the heat and continue stirring
for about five minutes or until most of the wine has evaporated. Now it's time to add
your crushed tomatoes. Also, some hot water since it's gonna be simmering for a while and you don't want it to dry out. Then your tomato paste. And I love this double
concentrated tomato paste because it adds more flavor. You'll need about two tablespoons. Also, add your chopped parsley. Stir that all together to combine. And last but not least, we're gonna add 1/2 a cup of milk. The milk helps to tenderize the beef, which is why I like to add it
before the lengthy simmering. Bring that mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat down
to the lowest simmer. Partially cover, and let that simmer for about two hours or until the meat is very tender. You'll wanna stir it occasionally and add water if it seems a little bit dry because you don't want
it to stick to the pot. When it's close to being done, I like to start cooking my pasta. Bring a pot of salted water to boil, then cook your pasta according
to the package instructions. And this sauce is traditionally served with pappardelle pasta. Cook the pasta until it's al dente. And of course, you'll
need a proper taste test. And before you drain that pasta, make sure you set aside some
of the pasta cooking water if you need to loosen up your sauce. Drain the pasta. And now that the sauce is
done, the beef is tender, we're gonna do a quick season to taste with a little bit of salt. And here's a quick tip. You'll know your bolognese sauce is ready when the beef is very tender and the texture is a thick and
saucy sloppy joe consistency. Add a generous amount
of sauce to that pasta and stir to combine. All right, just toss that together until it's nice and saucy. And I love that this recipe is enough for two big
dinners at our house. And it keeps really well in the fridge and it freezes so well. But the best part is my kids love this. Every time I make it, they just gobble it up and
fight over leftovers (chuckles). All right, so we're just gonna plate this because I am craving this so badly. I've been smelling it for the
past two hours (chuckles). All right, here we go, look at that. Saucy, juicy, beefy noodles. Oh, this is just the
ultimate comfort food. And it gets infused with so
much flavor from the white wine and then simmering for a
long time on the stove. Ooh, that's a long noodle. The beef gets super tender. And that's the key, is to cook it until the
beef is really tender. Okay, and then we're gonna garnish with a little bit of parsley. Just zhuzh it up (chuckles). And some freshly grated Parmesan cheese. All right, and I love this cheese grater. It's so fun. It kind of feels like a restaurant, like you're dining in a restaurant. I will link to this guy below. All right, I think that looks good. (chuckles) I love it when the
restaurant waiter comes over and they're like, "Tell me when," and the kids never say it. That's the best. Okay, I'm missing my fork. I'm missing my fork. Hang on. Here we go. Can't do this without a fork. I mean, I could, but you don't wanna watch
that taste test, trust me. Oh, okay, here we go. Look at how saucy these noodles are. And this is just such a satisfying dinner. Pasta and meat sauce, or how is it, bolognese. Bolognese, that's the one (chuckles). I used to call this bolognese, 'cause that's how it's spelled. That's not right. Oh, don't say that unless you want someone
to make fun of you, okay? All right (chuckles). Okay, here we go. Oh, my favorite part of
the show, the taste test. Mm, mm. This is so satisfying. I can eat a big bowl of this. And it's just such a
simple and perfect dinner. You can also serve this
with any kind of protein, but you don't need to 'cause
there's already protein in it. Make this, and you'll
make it over and over 'cause your family will request it. It's perfect for an easy weeknight dinner or an Italian night. All right. And let me know if you
spot a sharky in the video. Plus, wait, hold on. Ta-da, our first cookbook is
finally available for ordering. I will leave a link in the notes. We're pretty excited. All right, that's it. We'll see you on the next
episode of Natasha's Kitchen. (soft music)
