Homemade Bolognese

Missy, here. I thought I'd bring back a recipe from way back in 2011. It's one of my favorites, so I'm sharing it again...


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 (from MarthaStewart.com)

• 3 slices bacon, finely chopped (I used pre-cooked)
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 medium carrot, finely chopped
• 1 celery stalk, finely chopped
• 2 pounds ground pork
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 1 cup dry white wine  (I used red)
• 1 1/4 cups whole milk (I used a mix of skim and half-and-half)
• 1 can (28 ounces) tomato sauce
• 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 bay leaf
• 5 sprigs fresh thyme
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• Cooked penne rigate, for serving
• Grated Parmesan, for serving

In a large Dutch oven or heavy pot, cook bacon over medium heat until fat is released, 5 minutes. [I used pre-cooked bacon that I had on hand, so 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 until soft, 6 minutes. Raise heat to medium-high; add pork and cook, breaking up meat with a wooden spoon, until browned, 7 minutes.

Add tomato paste; cook until pork is coated, 4 minutes.

Add wine (I didn't have white so used red, which turned out delicious); cook until reduced by three-fourths. 

Add 1 cup milk (I didn't have whole milk so mixed skim with half & half); cook until reduced by half. Add tomato sauce, broth, bay leaf, thyme (I used dried), 2 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Simmer, stirring occasionally, 1 hour. Stir in 1/4 cup milk.

[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), 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?

Missy