Tasty Tuesday: Pasta Bolognese

My family should have been Italian since we love pasta dishes so much. And one of my "go to" dishes lately has been Pasta Bolognese. Bolognese is a meat based sauce (and lots of it) that is also commonly made with wine & a bevy of vegetables. 

Can you tell I was a bit too impatient to wait for the steam to stop in the center? 

You can use as much ground meat as you'd like (1-3 lb.) & as many varieties as you'd like. (A popular combination is ground beef & ground Italian sausage in a 2:1 ratio.) Then there's the veggies. I make this often mostly because I have a picky eater (yep, one of those sneaky chef tactics). All of the veggies are finely minced or shredded to blend in with the meat of the sauce. I generally keep it simple (like in the recipe below), but in the summer I tend to add mushrooms, fresh tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, squash & anything else I can think of. 

*Remember to use desired amounts. 

•ground beef

•onion, minced

•garlic, minced

•carrot, finely shredded

•oil packed sun-dried tomatoes, finely chopped

•white cooking wine

•pasta sauce, any flavor

•salt & pepper

•additional desired seasonings such as sugar, crushed red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, paprika, dried oregano, dried basil & dried parsley

•hot cooked pasta, drained

•Parmesan cheese, if desired

- In a large skillet over med-high heat, add ground meat and break it up as it begins to cook.

- When your meat is about halfway  cooked through, add the onion & garlic.

- Lower heat to med. and allow the onion & garlic to sweat a bit, while still crumbling & browning the ground meat. 

- Drain off a majority of the grease, add the carrot & sun-dried tomatoes. Simmer 5 min.

- Slowly add pasta sauce, a splash of cooking wine, salt & pepper and any additional seasonings. Cover and simmer 20 min.

- Adjust seasonings at this point if necessary and return to a simmer for an additional 10 min.

- Serve over hot cooked pasta topped with Parmesan cheese (if desired) & season to taste with additional salt & pepper.

Enjoy!