Dinner 1: Bolognese over Noodles/Zoodles

Tips & Tricks:

• 🔪 Skip steps with knife if you completed Prep Day!
• 🔪 Sauce can be made 5 days ahead and refrigerated or kept frozen for a month.
• 🌰 I only use Nutmeg in this recipe if I happen to have it already. Usually around holiday baking time! Otherwise don’t worry about skipping it.
• ✂️ Use clean kitchen scissors to cut up tomatoes in the can before adding to the pot.
• 🍝 Sauce can be simmered for 1-3 hours. The more you let it simmer the more flavor you’ll get, but do what works for you.

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 3 tablespoons butter plus 1 tablespoon
• ½ cup chopped onion
• ⅔ cup chopped celery
• ⅔ cup chopped carrot
• 1 pound ground beef chuck
• 1 lb ground pork
• 4 oz pancetta, chopped
• Salt and pepper
• 1 cup whole milk
• Ground nutmeg (optional)
• 1 cup dry red or white wine
• 1 28oz can of San Marzano whole/peeled tomatoes, cut up, with their juice
• Freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano
• 12 oz of dried spaghetti or
• 4-6 zucchini, or pre-spiraled zucchini or other spaghetti looking vegetable

Directions:

1. 🔪 Veg Prep Small dice chop onion, celery, and carrot so they are all relatively similar in size.
2. 🔪 Cook Sauce
1. Put the oil, butter and chopped onion in a large pot or dutch oven and turn the heat on to medium. Cook and stir the onion until it has become translucent, then add the chopped celery and carrot. Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring vegetables to coat them well.
2. Add ground beef/pork/pancetta, a large pinch of salt and a few grindings of pepper. Crumble the meat with your spatula, stir well and cook until the beef and pork have lost its raw, red color.
3. Add milk and let it simmer gently, stirring frequently, until it has bubbled away completely. Add 1/8 teaspoon of (optional) nutmeg, and stir.
4. Add the wine, let it simmer until 1/2 the wine has evaporated (about 10 minutes), then add the chopped tomatoes and stir thoroughly to coat all ingredients well. When the tomatoes begin to bubble, turn the heat down so that the sauce cooks at very light simmer.
5. Cook, uncovered, 1-3 hours or more, stirring from time to time. While the sauce is cooking, you are likely to find that it begins to dry out and the fat separates from the meat. To keep it from sticking, add 1/2 cup of water whenever necessary. At the end, however, no water at all must be left and the fat must separate from the sauce. Taste and correct for salt. If serving right away add 1 tbsp of butter and stir into the sauce just before serving.
3. 🔪 Pasta or Zoodles
1. Cook pasta (to package instructions) or spiralize zoodles. This can be done while the sauce is simmering or up to 2-3 days before eating.
4. Serve
1. Toss bolognese with cooked drained pasta or spiraled vegetable of choice, and top with freshly grated Parmesan.

Reheat Options

1. Sauce can be made 5 days ahead and refrigerated or kept frozen for a month. If frozen, thaw overnight before serving.
2. Heat-up in a pot over medium heat letting it simmer until warm. Remember to add that tablespoon of butter just before serving!
3. (Re)Heat noodles/zoodles (if made ahead) by simply mixing into the hot bolognese sauce for about a minute before serving.