Oh, hello gorgeous. Today, we’re talking all about How to Make Pappardelle Bolognese. True confession, friends – I barely made it through this photo shoot without totally giving in to the charms of this Pappardelle Bolognese (read: eating the whole thing). What with all of its utterly delicious meaty/tomatoey (??) bits and bouncy, sauce-slicked noodles, it was a true act of self restraint to snap some pics so you could see it for yourselves as I wax on and on and on about it here. Such an enchantress, this one. And we’ve been friends for years.
What is Bolognese?
A meat-based sauce of Italian cuisine, Bolognese is typical of the city of Bologna and the greater Emilia Romagna region in general. Typically, Bolognese is used to dress tagliatelle al ragù and lasagna alla bolognese. However, if you don’t have any tagliatelle, no worries! Bolognese is also great with other broad, flat pasta shapes, such as fettuccine and pappardelle, like we’re using today.
Components of a typical Bolognese include:
- Meat. Yes, this is a hearty, stick-to-your-ribs type of sauce and you’ll most often see ground beef or sometimes a blend of ground beef and pork as the base. Sometimes you’ll also see pork in the form of pancetta (more traditional and Italian), but today we’re going to use bacon. Bacon lends a smoky backbone to the recipe that I think is fantastic and it is also easier to find, typically. (I order this bacon because it is the BEST).
- Aromatics. Aromatics are the parts of cooked dishes that act almost as supporting stars – the carrots, garlic, onion, celery, etc. – that help establish a depth of flavor in everything from stews and soups to sauces and braises. Let’s be honest, as tasty as the meat is, there’s no way a sauce such as Bolognese could ever reach the levels of savory, rich, deliciousness without the help of these important yet subtle players. In this recipe, we’ll call on the help of garlic, onion, celery, and carrot because they each serve a purpose and truly help this sauce earn the title of “Ultimate Bolognese recipe.”
- Tomatoes. This sauce is filled with tomato flavor as well, and we’ll go double duty by using both tomato paste and a can of crushed San Marzano tomatoes to help build the sauce.
- Wine. As is the case with many hearty, meat-based stews, sauces and braises, red wine comes to the party to offer some very deep, luscious flavor and a bit of levity what with all of that richness. The Bolognese simply wouldn’t be nearly as good without it.
- BROTH! The addition of a good quality chicken or beef bone broth (you can really use either one) brings real personality to this sauce – it gets in the nooks and crannies and builds up the flavor to a near addictive level. I keep my favorite bone broths on hand literally all the time, and I typically like to keep a variety around so I’ve got what I need at all times. I cook with bone broths and stocks weekly so this ingredient is an essential one in my kitchen. You can order my favorite kind here.
Master the Ultimate Bolognese Recipe with a Couple of Simple Tricks
This recipe serves a crowd for sure, but you can halve it or just make half the amount of pasta and freeze leftover sauce for another time (that’s what I do). It’s a perfect winter entertaining recipe – a stick-to-your-ribs, flavor-packed, cozy pasta that is truly delicious.
I’ve been making this one for a while and it’s my favorite Bolognese ever. A riff on chef Geoffrey Zakarian’s recipe, the parmesan cheese rinds and rehydrated porcinis really do make it. These are two of the tricks that really set this recipe apart. Please trust that I would never ask you to purchase/use an ingredient(s) that weren’t truly beneficial to your dish’s outcome.
In this case, we’re trying to make the absolute best Bolognese we can – the ULTIMATE BOLOGNESE RECIPE – so reaching for some special items seems appropriate here, no? The flavors that come from those dried porcinis and the salty, nutty cheese rinds are magical. They manage to kick their way up to the surface of this sauce, fighting through the heavy, potentially overpowering undertow of meat and tomatoes. A total victory. They’re worth it, I’ll just leave it at that.
Lastly, I call for skirt steak here, because it is more flavorful than ground chuck and still affordable. Just have your butcher (or, the people working in the meat department) grind it for you right in the store/supermarket. They’re always happy to help! It’s an easy way to flex your shopping muscles a bit and take advantage of a free extra you can get done while you shop.
A sneaky little minx of a recipe, this pasta is worth the extra couple of tricks that elevate it from good, to truly great.
If you learning how to make Pappardelle Bolognese, you might also want to try:
Incredible Slow Cooker Marinara
Blushing Italian Sausage and Rigatoni Bake
Easiest Hands-Off Spaghetti and Meatballs
Creamy Southwestern Chipotle Beef Pasta
How to Make Pappardelle Bolognese
This recipe serves a crowd for sure, but you can halve it or just make half the amount of pasta and freeze leftover sauce for another time (that’s what I do). It’s a perfect winter entertaining recipe – a stick-to-your-ribs, flavor-packed, cozy pasta that is truly delicious.
- Yield: Serves 4 to 6 1x
Ingredients
- Olive Oil, as needed
- 5 slices pancetta, minced (can sub bacon)
- 1/2 cup dried porcini soaked, drained and then finely chopped
- 5 garlic cloves, grated or minced
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1 large carrot diced
- 1 celery stalk finely diced
- 4 anchovies, minced
- 1 pound ground pork
- 1 pound ground skirt steak (ask someone in your supermarket’s meat department to do this for you)
- Salt and pepper as needed
- 4 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 cups red wine (drink the rest!)
- 2 cups beef or chicken stock
- 1 cup milk
- 28-oz. can crushed San Marzano tomatoes
- 2 rinds from a wedge of parmesan or pecorino Romano
- 2 pounds pasta, I used pappardelle here (or more, or less – depending on how many you want to serve)
- 8-ounce ball burrata cheese (optional)
Instructions
- In a large cast-iron pan or Dutch oven over medium heat, add a healthy glug (2 TBSP or so) of olive oil and then cook the pancetta, porcinis, onions, carrots, and celery until lightly brown. Takes about 20 minutes. Add the anchovies and cook a few minutes more.
- Add another couple of tablespoons olive oil to a second large skillet over medium heat (not too hot here). Brown the ground pork and ground skirt steak until all of the meat is evenly browed. Just put it in the pan and let it get nice and crusty brown on one side before you mess with it. That crust = flavor! Scrape the meat to remove any bits from the pan and brown all the way through; takes about 20 minutes. Add the tomato paste and cook for a few more minutes.
- To the pan with the bacon and veggies, add 1 cup of the red wine to deglaze. Now, transfer all of the contents of this pot to the pot with the meat. Add the rest of the wine and scrape up all the tasty bits on the bottom. Reduce the liquid by half (takes about 10 minutes). Add the stock, milk, crushed tomatoes, cheese rinds, and simmer very gently for 2 hours.
- Remove the rinds; discard. Let the sauce cool a little before serving. To serve, cook the pasta according to package directions, reserving ½ cup of the pasta water. Toss the pasta with the sauce, adding the reserved cooking water to help everything marry nicely. (note: If you aren’t serving all of the sauce at once, I’d suggest adding the sauce to the pasta – not the other way around. Then you can save what’s left of the sauce after you’ve added what you need for the pasta). Finish with some extra Parmesan or Pecorino and serve on individual plates with generous pieces of creamy burrata nestled inside (that’s totally optional). I like to lightly salt and pepper the burrata, as well.
