Holy Bolognese Batman!

I am inclined to tinker with this recipe, but as of now it has met with Tyler's approval. So perhaps I will leave well enough alone. It takes four hours on the stove - not a pretty thing if the house is hot or you have errands to run. But if like us it is still only 50F outside and you don't mind forgetting you left your gas stove running while at dinner to celebrate your anniversay, it should be a breeze.

2 Tbs. butter

3 Tbs. evoo

2 Tbs. yellow onion small dice

2Tbs. carrot small dice

2 Tbs. celery small dice

3/4 pound ground beef

1 cup dry white wine

1/2 cup milk

1/8 tsp. nutmeg, freshly ground

2 cups tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced

(or canned and crushed like I used)

1 tsp. salt

1/4 - 1/2 tsp. freshly cracked pepper

In a pot - much like a soup pot, or equally large and wide but with shorter sides - melt the butter and heat the oil at medium high. Dice your onion and add to the cooking fat and cook until translucent. Meanwhile dice your celery and carrots. Add them to the pot once your onion is cooked and give them 2 or 3 minutes to soften. Add the 3/4 pound ground beef to the pot and begin breaking it up. My recipe recommended using a fork which was so "Susy Homemaker" but it did work fairly well. Once the beef begins to color but before it has cooked through add the wine to the pot. Allow the wine to cook off almost entirely, stir occassionally. Next add the milk and the grating of nutmeg. Allow the milk to cook off almost entirely as well also stirring occassionally. To this add the tomatoes and reduce the heat to a whisper so the whole sauce only bubbles intermittently - like you imagine a steaming swamp might do. Let it cook like this uncovered for three hours - feel free to go out to dinner. If you are home stir the sauce a few times while it cooks. Before serving taste for seasoning and add the s & p.

I doubled this recipe and ended up with enough for 8 servings. Half of it went into a container in the freezer for a night I don't feel up to cooking. The other half was heated and served on Campanelle pasta. Any shape that has holes, ripples or crevices would be ideal for this sauce as it can glom onto the meaty yummy bits.

This is where I tell you that the recipe comes from Marcella Hazan. So that you don't think I was clever enough to think it all up. I would like to alter it and reduce the amount of wine added to the recipe and perhaps swap the celery for fennel and the beef for sausage ala a meat sauce I had when we went out for dinner Friday night.