Friday, August 19, 2016

Pork Bolognese Revisited

with Missy Tippens

I'm re-sharing one of my favorite dishes that I posted in December 2011. I love this recipe! I hope you will too...


Missy, here. And I have a fantastic recipe to share. Homey and rich and perfect for a cold day. (Of course, we won't talk about the fact it's going to be 70 degrees today!)

The way this meal started is that I got a deal at the grocery store. :) Ground pork for $1.69 a pound. I grabbed up several packages and then realized I'd never used ground pork before. I had to find a recipe!

The original recipe that I settled on is from the Martha Stewart website. (Click here to see the original.) You'll see as I go that I changed a few things, mainly because I didn't have exactly what I needed. So let's cook!

Pork Bolognese

Ingredients (adapted from MarthaStewart.com)

  • 3 slices bacon, finely chopped (I used pre-cooked)
  • 1 small onion, finely chopped
  • 1 medium carrot, finely chopped (sometimes I just used pre-shredded carrot sticks and chop them a little more)
  • 1 celery stalk, finely chopped (You're getting the picture here...stuff finely chopped!)
  • 2 pounds ground pork
  • 1/4 cup tomato paste (I normally use a tube of paste, but this is enough to open a small can)
  • 1 cup red wine (recipe calls for white, but I used what I had)
  • 1-1/4 cups milk
  • 1 large can tomato sauce (28 ounces) 
  • 2 cups chicken broth
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 5 sprigs fresh thyme (I never have this fresh. I just crush a pinch of dry thyme between my fingers to release the oils and perk it up a bit)
  • salt and pepper
  • pasta of your choice (I prefer angel hair because it cooks so quickly)
  • Freshly grated Parmesan



In a large heavy pot, cook bacon for about 5 minutes. [Since I used pre-cooked bacon that I had on hand, I just heated through and added a bit of olive oil]



Add onion, carrot, and celery [my family would go on strike if I used celery, so I left out]; cook a few minutes until soft. Raise heat to medium-high and add the pork. Cook, breaking up the meat with your handy dandy potato masher, until browned.



Add tomato paste. Cook until it's mixed well with the pork, about 5 minutes.

Add wine (I didn't have white so used red, which turned out delicious). Cook until the liquid is reduced a good bit. 

Add 1 cup milk (I mixed skim with half & half). Cook until reduced by half. Add tomato sauce, chicken broth, bay leaf, thyme, 2-1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 1 hour. Stir in another 1/4 cup milk.

[Note: I didn't have an hour. So I cut back to 1-1/2 cups chicken broth and cooked a half hour. It was a little thin but was very tasty anyway.]




Serve sauce over pasta (I used linguine this time), topped with cheese.

For fun, I have a set of pasta dishes that I bought at the grocery store years ago.



I hope you enjoy!!



Do y'all eat as much pasta as we do around here?



9 comments:

  1. Oh, this looks delicious! If it weren't close to 100F here, I'd make some ASAP. Filing this away for a fall day. :)

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    Replies
    1. Virginia, I don't make this type dish nearly as often in the summer. But I do have a craving probably once a month or so for a meaty sauce. I hope you get some relief from the heat!

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  2. Mary Jane, I never realized how hot it could get or does get where you are. I envisioned Oregon and Washington as cool oases basking in PNW breezes... so the idea of this extended heat there boggles my mind. Is this an El Nino derivative or is this every year? Because I remember researching for my central Washington books and folks said they might have A/C but rarely use it...

    And Missy, thank you for this! I'd forgotten how good this recipe was!!!

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    Replies
    1. Ruthy, I've wondered the same thing about the heat waves.

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    2. I would say that we rarely use our air conditioner here in western South Dakota. The temps can get up to 100°, but it doesn't last like it does in the south. So we'll have the A/C on for a day, maybe two, and then turn it off for a week. Or two. It depends on the year.

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    3. Jan, I can't imagine how wonderful that would be for the power bills! Our AC runs pretty much constantly from probably the end of March into November.

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  3. I need to try this recipe! I thought the same thing when you posted it before, but I never did. :(

    So this time I'm pinning it on my Yankee Belle pinterest board so that it's handy!

    Thanks, Missy!

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    Replies
    1. Jan, I love Pinterest for saving recipes! Of course, now my recipe board is so massive, it's nearly impossible to find anything. I need to split it into separate boards, I guess.

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  4. I'm laughing at this line.
    (Of course, we won't talk about the fact it's going to be 70 degrees today!)

    If only!

    This sounds delicious. I'd have to stick with the beef though. Mixing pork with tomato sauce is a migraine trigger for me.

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