While I am taking this time of dormancy to write, and enjoying what Haven Writing Retreats alums are saying about creativity here on my blog, I am also cooking up a storm! It's the perfect balance to the act of writing because while characters and stories dwell and grow in my mind, with food creation, …
While I am taking this time of dormancy to write, and enjoying what Haven Writing Retreats alums are saying about creativity here on my blog, I am also cooking up a storm! It’s the perfect balance to the act of writing because while characters and stories dwell and grow in my mind, with food creation, there is an immediately met trajectory. I create it: people eat it. Complete creative arc! We will finish the Haven Winter Blog series this week. I hope you are enjoying these musings on the creative process. In the meantime…here is one of my very favorite things to create, perfected over many years of trial and error…never before written down. From my kitchen to yours! May it fuel your muse! Buon appetito!
Now Booking the Haven Writing Retreats 2016 Schedule
February 24-28 (one spot left)
June 8-12
June 22-26
September 7-11
September 21-25
October 5-9
October 19-23
Bolognese Sauce
(with apologies to the people of Bologna– this is an American woman’s best stab at what you do, and will always do, much better than this lowly lover of your cuisine)
I have learned to make this sauce over the years from the family I lived with in Italy, to Italian friends along the way in Chicago and Montana, and by cooking it over and over and becoming its friend, as with all favorite recipes. It is my go-to happy meal and my family’s too. Cook it when you need inspiration, when you feel inspired, when you’re in the dumps, when you want to dance in the kitchen for half the day, when you just…need…to…remember what it is to delight in holding beautiful lovingly grown manna in your hands and turning it into a blissful creation. Sharpen your knives, clear the cutting board and counter, turn on some great music, (perhaps a bit of vino), and let’s go! I serve this on the first night of my Haven Writing Retreats! …food for the muse…
Note: This is for a gallon of sauce! It will feed a lot of happy people. You can also freeze it. I use about a quart for a box of pasta.
To begin: The Sofrito– which is the base for many Italian sauces and soups
Sofrito Ingredients:
2 yellow onions
4 cloves of garlic → 2 tbsp minced
4 cups chopped carrots
2 cups chopped celery
1 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
Additional ingredients:
1 6oz can tomato paste
2 cups organic whole milk
2 cups dry white wine
3 28 oz cans of Italian whole plum tomatoes, hand crushed
Meat:
4 slices very thick pancetta, cubed
2 lb ground pork (no spices)
1 lb ground beef
Step: #1: Meat
Add olive oil to cover bottom of pot
Let oil heat but not smoke
Add cubed pancetta
Remove pancetta when fat is rendered and brown (should take about 4 minutes) with slotted spoon so the grease stays in the pot — Don’t burn
Remove with slotted spoon once brown, leave enough grease to coat bottom (note: you don’t want the meat to stew– you want it to brown, so add each meat so that it touches the bottom of the pan)
Add ground beef
Remove with slotted spoon once brown, leave enough grease to coat bottom (ditto)
Set all meat aside and cover with foil
Step #2: Sofrito (cooking process takes about 20-30 minutes)
Saute onions in pot at medium heat, add large pinch of good salt, [no pepper until end– makes it bitter]
Once onions are transparent and beginning to brown, add garlic, stir, add carrots
Once carrots begin to stick to the bottom of the pot, add celery and parsley, don’t brown
Cook sofrito until all liquid is absorbed
Step #3: Combine meat to sofrito, and add liquids
Add all browned meat and can of tomato paste, cook 10 minutes stirring occasionally to avoid burning
Add milk and wine, let cook ~15 min or until liquids are absorbed and bubbling
Add the crushed tomatoes and remaining juice (I like to do it by hand rather than buying diced tomatoes. It’s a feel thing.)
Let sauce gently simmer for an hour, adding salt to taste during the process
Step #4: Assembly:
Bring water to a rolling boil in stock pot, add salt
Cook pasta until al dente– This pasta sauce can be served with any hearty pasta. I like papardelle, penne, and rigatoni the best.
Add sauce to stock pot and warm on low
Keeping burner on low, add pasta, grated Parmigiano Reggiano to taste (a cup or so), fresh ground pepper to taste, and stir lightly until pasta is coated (this is key, and too many Americans skip this step and pile the sauce on naked noodles. Bad form! The sauce never really marries with the pasta.)
Plate and garnish with fresh chopped Italian parsley
Serve additional fresh ground pepper and grated Reggiano for people to add themselves.
YOU WILL HAVE VERY HAPPY PEOPLE AT YOUR TABLE…who will all know that they are eating food made with love.
Enjoy!
yrs.
Laura (and my daughter, Ella, who cooked this with me, took the photos, and recorded the recipe which had never before been written down…and told me a long time ago that my food was “made with love.” High compliment.)
Now Booking 2016 Haven Writing Retreats
February 24-28 (one spot left)
June 8-12
June 22-26
September 7-11
September 21-25
October 5-9
October 19-23
