Baked Rigatoni alla Bolognese

[mvscal]

If you are lactose intolerant...fuck the fuck off.

It's based on a more or less traditional Italian Bolognese sauce. The ingredients are simple and readily available. It just takes time...lots of time. You can make the sauce with or without the bechamel enrichment and you can bake it or not. You can also add pancetta (or regular bacon).

Ingredients:

1.25-1.5 lbs ground chuck or 80/20 ground beef (do not substitute leaner beef).
One heaping half cup each of diced onions, diced carrots and diced celery.
7 tbs* unsalted butter
3 cups whole milk
1 cup dry white wine
1 28 oz can of whole San Marzano tomatoes diced w/ juice.
1 lbs rigatoni pasta
1/2 lbs whole milk mozzarella, grated.
1/4 pancetta or bacon (optional)*
3 tbs flour
1/2 tsp sugar
salt, pepper & nutmeg

In a 3 qt enameled cast iron casserole or heavy bottomed stainless steel sauce pan, combine 1 tbs veg. oil and 3 tbs butter or optional pancetta. If using pancetta, saute over med. heat until most of the fat renders. If not, melt 3 tbs butter w/ oil and, when it bubbles, add the onions and saute until translucent. Add carrots and celery, toss them well and saute for about 2 minutes.

Add the ground beef, 1/2 tsp salt & a generous grinding of black pepper and cook just until it loses its pink color. Add 1 cup milk and simmer until it is completely absorbed into the meat stirring frequently toward the end. Add the wine and repeat the procedure. You should have a nice gravy at this point. Add the diced tomatoes and juice from the can & sugar then turn the heat down to low. Let the sauce bubble at a lazy simmer for 3 hours, stirring every now and again. The fat will (and must) separate.

Preheat oven to 400 and prepare the bechamel:

2 cups milk
4 tbs butter
3 tbs flour
1/4 tsp salt

Gently heat the milk in a small sauce pan. Meanwhile melt the butter over medium to medium low heat and add flour to make a blonde roux (2 minutes). Stir constantly throughout the process. Add the hot milk in small portions (off heat) and completely incorporate each addition before adding more then add salt and let it bubble until thickened (about two to three minutes). Take care to keep stirring and control the temperature. If it simmers too vigorously remove from heat. Fold it in to the bolognese and add S&P to taste along with ~ 1/4 tsp or so of nutmeg.

Cook the pasta to a shade less than al dente and toss well with sauce. Place into a buttered 9X13 baking dish and pop it into the oven for ten minutes. Pull it out and top with the grated mozzarella. Put it back in until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Let sit for 10-15 minutes before serving.

[mvscal]

It ended up looking exactly like this:



Like I said, you needn't bake it with the cheese topping or even add the bechamel (I would recommend it, though). You could just toss the rigatoni with the sauce directly, shave some romano over the top and it would look pretty much like the pic you have there.

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

Looks good, but is the final product worth the effort? I take it that is from the Marcella Hazan cookbook?

[Dinsdale]

Sorry, I just can't get into putting that kind of effort into Italian.

While some pasta and tomato sauce is cleary superior to others... it's still pasta and tomato sauce.

[Mikey]

Not so much work if you don't do the bechamel. You just have to cook it for a while

Another Italian dish that takes a few hours but is definitely worthwhile is osso bucco. Love that stuff. I actually made it from scratch at a campout once.

[mvscal]

Looks good, but is the final product worth the effort?

Well, I would say so. Of course, I enjoy cooking. Your mileage may vary, but, honestly, there really isn't much effort. You just have to be able to dice some veggies and stir a pot. Once the tomatoes go in, it's a very low temp simmer so it doesn't require much attention at all. I just give the pot a quick turn when I need to go to the kitchen to re-beer.

The only major investment is time. It's a good thing to do when you're just sitting around watching games on the weekend.

I take it that is from the Marcella Hazan cookbook?

There are some small differences in ingredients and proportions, but the technique is the same. I've made it following her recipe to the letter, but prefer my adjustments. It's one of my favorite sauces to make. I like the way it builds in layers to the finished product.

From the sofrito:



To the finished product:

[mvscal]

Not so much work if you don't do the bechamel.

And bechamel is so much work.



I still have to make osso bucco. That is definitely on the list.

[Dinsdale]

I actually made it from scratch at a campout once.

It don't matter what you make -- if you make something from scratch while camping, you rocked.


If I'm going to spend hours making something, it's coming out of the smoker... that is how I roll. Sure, I have a narrow focus -- but it's a damn fine narrow one to have.

[smackaholic]

I actually made it from scratch at a campout once.

It don't matter what you make -- if you make something from scratch while camping, you rocked.


If I'm going to spend hours making something, it's coming out of the smoker... that is how I roll. Sure, I have a narrow focus -- but it's a damn fine narrow one to have.

Mikey, can you give us a little better definition of "campout". If it means 3 feet away from your pickup at a campground, meh. If it was trailside, 14 miles from the nearest road, you do rock.

Back in an earlier life when I used to do that sort of campout, I always found that pretty fukking much anything edible was delicious. After 20 miles of dragging a backpack, cinder's gash would probably taste good. Probably.

And rack the lactose intolerant blast. It's just a fancy way of saying "I'm a fag".

[Dinsdale]

We made chilidogs and some really epic 4-meat/3-cheese freaking dagwoods sitting in a (small) boat in Tillamook Bay this weekend... kinda like camping cooking, but different.


Needed to make something, since we sure the hell weren't catching any chinook.

[Mikey]

I actually made it from scratch at a campout once.

It don't matter what you make -- if you make something from scratch while camping, you rocked.


If I'm going to spend hours making something, it's coming out of the smoker... that is how I roll. Sure, I have a narrow focus -- but it's a damn fine narrow one to have.

Mikey, can you give us a little better definition of "campout". If it means 3 feet away from your pickup at a campground, meh. If it was trailside, 14 miles from the nearest road, you do rock.

Back in an earlier life when I used to do that sort of campout, I always found that pretty fukking much anything edible was delicious. After 20 miles of dragging a backpack, cinder's gash would probably taste good. Probably.

And rack the lactose intolerant blast. It's just a fancy way of saying "I'm a fag".

"Campout" and "backpacking" are two different animals. I'm not hauling a Coleman Stove and 14 inch saute pan around in a backpack. That would be beyond stupid. I was cooking for half a dozen other adult leaders at a Scout campout and it was considered an historicaly epic outdoor meal, even beyond my tri-tips cooked over an open oak fire on San Clemente Island.

BTW...I've had trail sandwiches mader from graham crackers and Spam that tasted as good as any restraurant prime rib considering the context in which they were consumed.

[Goober McTuber]

BTW...I've had trail sandwiches mader from graham crackers and Spam that tasted as good as any restraurant prime rib considering the context in which they were consumed.

In other words, fat boy was hungry.

[Mikey]

BTW...I've had trail sandwiches mader from graham crackers and Spam that tasted as good as any restraurant prime rib considering the context in which they were consumed.

In other words, fat boy was hungry.

Sin,
MA