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05/24/2018 12:01 AMMy flower garden looks just gorgeous, although I cannot take any credit for it. I bought my condo from my good friends. They put in all the perennials. There is a beautiful azalea, lilies of the valley (my birth flower, although that fact is coincidental), tulips, hyacinths, and all kind of lilies. And because I still have this sciatica or IT bands or whatever , I asked John Colton, whom I call my leprechaun, to put in some annuals and plant my herb plants on the back patio.
Well, this all happened when it felt like spring, if not actually almost summer. I had turned the heat off in the house, took the electric blanket off my bed, changed the duvet cover from beiges and grays to white, opened the windows, and hung the hummingbird feeders. A couple of days later, I closed the windows and looked in my freezer for some cold-weather dinner, like Bolognese. I went through every shelf and found not one faux Tupperware container of my favorite pasta sauce.
But all is not lost. Mother Nature knew, but I wasn’t listening. It is just May, but it is New England. Here is the recipe for the Bolognese sauce, which may have come from Good Housekeeping two or more decades ago. As always, I will triple the recipe (although the recipe below is for just 6 to 8 people). So when we get a rainy, dreary day this spring or summer, or when autumn gives us a cold snap, my faux red- or blue-lidded Tupperware will be right where I can find it.
Bolognese Sauce
Yield: enough for 6 to 8 people
I triple this recipe and make it in an enormous pot. It is unwieldy, but because it is labor intensive, I prefer to do a huge batch and freeze in containers or zippered freezer bags large enough for one meal for two people. Caution: If you do freeze the sauce in freezer bags, freeze on a straight surface. I once put freezer bags of sauce directly onto the wire racks in the freezer. Need I say more?
¼ cup olive oil
1 cup onions, minced
1 cup carrots, minced
2 teaspoons garlic, minced
1 pound lean ground beef
½ pound ground pork
1 ½ cups white wine
1 ½ cups milk
¼ cup tomato paste
2 cans (28-ounce cans) tomatoes
½ cup heavy cream
¼ cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
Heat cup olive oil in large saucepot over medium-high heat. Add each minced onions and carrots; cook 5 minutes. Add 2 minced garlic; cook 15 seconds. Add 1 beef and pork; cook until meat is no longer pink. Add white wine; cook until almost evaporated. Add milk; simmer 15 minutes. Add tomato paste and tomatoes. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer, stirring to break up tomatoes, 2 hours. Stir in heavy cream and chopped parsley. Season with salt and pepper. Toss half the sauce with cooked spaghetti. (Cover and refrigerate remaining sauce.)