Ingredients:
- About 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- About 2 tablespoons butter for sauce, plus a few pats to toss with pasta
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 rib celery, finely chopped
- 1 carrot, finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 pound ground beef
- Salt and ground black pepper
- 1 bay leaf
- Herb bundle of parsley, sage, thyme, a few stems of each, tied
- 1 cup whole milk
- Freshly grated nutmeg, about ⅛ teaspoon
- One 15-ounce can diced tomatoes
- 2 cups beef stock
- A chunk of rind of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus 1 cup and more at table to serve
- 1 pound spaghetti
Directions:
Heat stock in a small saucepan. Add a chunk of rind and bring to a simmer, reduce heat to low.
In a Dutch oven, heat olive oil, 2 turns of the pot, over medium to medium-high heat, add butter to oil and when it foams, add onion, celery, and carrot, and cook, partially covered, 5-7 minutes to soften. Add garlic, stir, add ground meat and season with salt and ground black pepper. Break up the ground meat until it is no longer pink, then add bay, herbs, milk, season with a little freshly grated nutmeg and reduce heat to low simmer. Let milk absorb into meat completely. Stir tomatoes into sauce, reduce heat to low, and simmer 30 minutes, low and slow.
When the sauce looks like it may be drying out, add a few ladles of the beef stock to moisten it, keeping the bolognese at a low bubble.
Cook pasta in 6 quarts salted water about a minute less than the package directions. Reserve 1/2 cup of starchy cooking water if you have used all of your stock in the bolognese. Drain pasta or remove from water with spider. Toss pasta with a few pats of butter. Remove bay leaf and herb bundle from bolognese. Combine noodles with sauce and a little stock or reserved water if necessary.
Serve, topping with Parmesan cheese.
*Recipe adapted from Rachael Ray
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