Pappardelle Bolognese

I’ve never been a fan of red sauces on pasta. Marinaras? No thank you. I’ll take plain pasta with butter and parmesan over that any day.

But I don’t know if I’d even consider this a real ‘red’ sauce. It’s barely red – with only a few spoonfuls of tomato paste. The rest of the flavor comes from meats and vegetables, all combined and simmered until they just melt in your mouth.

We knew we wanted to try this with those really-wide noodles. But alas, have you ever seen those in a grocery store? So we made them. And it just reinforced to me how delicious fresh pasta really is. More delicate than dried pasta, it accompanies a sauce rather than being covered up by it.

To make these noodles, I ran the dough through the pasta rollers, and then instead of running it again through a cutter to make fettuccine, instead I folded the sheet of dough and cut it into 1/2″ wide strips. The noodles get wider as they cook, so cut them narrower than you’d think.

We made some modifications to the original recipe, including halving it (which made more than enough for 4), and substituting ground turkey instead of veal. Funny thing, we used half of most of the ingredients to make the sauce, except the garlic. That’s a lot like our garlic-measurements in cooking—if a recipe calls for 2 cloves, that really means 4. A teaspoon of minced garlic really means more like a tablespoon. I always assume whoever wrote the recipes was using really big cloves. :)

Pappardelle Bolognese

Makes 4 servings. Adapted from Mario Batali’s recipe.

INGREDIENTS
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 celery ribs, finely chopped
1 medium carrot, finely chopped
5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 lb bacon, ground or thinly sliced and pulsed in food processor until finely chopped
1/2 lb ground turkey
1/2 lb ground pork
1/4-1/3 cup tomato paste (more if you like it)
1/2 cup whole milk (or soy creamer)
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 lb fresh pasta, cut into thick noodles

DIRECTIONS
Cook onions, celery, carrot, and garlic in oil in a 6- to 8-quart heavy pot over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add pancetta, veal, and pork and cook over moderately high heat, stirring and breaking up lumps, until no longer pink, about 6 minutes. Stir in tomato paste, milk, wine, water, and thyme and gently simmer, covered, until sauce is thickened, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Add salt and pepper and remove from heat.

Cook noodles until al dente. Drain well, and add into sauce. Toss to coat. Garnish with fresh parmesan cheese and a few thyme leaves.

Sauce may be made 2 days ahead and cooled, uncovered, before chilling, covered. Frozen, it keeps for 1 month.

Pappardelle with Chicken and Mushroom Ragu

If you hadn’t noticed, I haven’t been posting quite as much as I did during the summer. The reason? Light. When it’s completely dark by the time we’re done cooking dinner, I have much less of a desire to photograph anything. I really just want to sit down and eat. Nothing beats natural light, and that lack of natural light cannot be replicated with the off-hued lights in our kitchen. Just felt like I needed to explain myself, just a little bit.

Surprisingly, though, I do have a few back-logged meals that I did manage to photograph. Unfortunately, back-logged means the memory of those meals is also back-logged in my brain. Take this meal. I managed to find the recipe, luckily, but gosh darnit I couldn’t tell you what it tasted like. I think it was good, I know I’d remember it if it was either fabulous or horrible, so it must have been somewhere in between. And it was probably a night that we really didn’t feel like spending much time cooking, because if we had been in that kind of mood, we would have broke out the pasta maker and made homemade Pappardelle (wide noodles) that I’m sure would have been outstanding in this dish. However, it appears (and again, I can’t remember), that we wanted dinner done and our bellies full as quick as possible, so we threw in a box of penne instead. Hey, in a pinch, it works. Just fine.

So there. A post for you. And a promise from me – that I’m going to make the most of limited light and try to get more photos, and be better about actually posting them while I can still remember what they tasted like.

Pappardelle with Chicken and Mushroom Ragu

Makes 4 servings. Recipe from Gourmet.

INGREDIENTS
6 ounces cremini mushrooms
3 garlic cloves
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/4 pounds skinless boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 small onion, chopped
3/4 teaspoon chopped rosemary
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 (28-ounce) can whole tomatoes in juice
1/2 pound dried pappardelle (or penne is just fine too)
5 ounces baby arugula (about 8 cups)
Accompaniment: Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

DIRECTIONS
Pulse mushrooms and garlic in a food processor until finely chopped.

Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Season chicken with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until just golden, about 3 minutes. Transfer with a slotted spoon to a bowl.

Reduce heat to medium and cook onion, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 3 minutes.

Add mushroom mixture, rosemary, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and cook, stirring constantly, until beginning to brown, about 4 minutes.

Add vinegar and cook until evaporated. Add chicken and tomatoes (with juice), then simmer, breaking up tomatoes with a spoon and stirring occasionally, until sauce is just thickened, about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook pasta in a pot of boiling salted water (2 tablespoons salt for 6 quarts water) until al dente.

Add arugula to sauce and stir until wilted. Stir in drained pasta and cook 1 minute. Serve with Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and enjoy.