Low & Slow Bolognese

this one's inspired by @lamb_chop97 🍝❤️ — a slow-simmered meat sauce with soffritto, San Marzano tomatoes, red wine, and a parmesan rind that makes the whole sauce taste like it came from a trattoria in Bologna. i made some tweaks with what I had on hand but the bones of this recipe are hers. sometimes you find a recipe on the internet and it just works 🫶

Ingredients

• 1-1.5 lbs ground beef

• 2 carrots

• 4 celery stalks

• 1 onion

• 6 cloves garlic, chopped

• 1/4 cup tomato paste

• 1 can whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes

• 1 cup chicken stock

• ½ cup red wine

• 1 parmesan rind

• 1 bay leaf

• 1 tbsp oregano (fresh or dried)

• 1/2 tbsp dried thyme

---

Serves 2

Prep time ~15mins

Cook time ~1.5 - 2hrs

---

Cooking Instructions

Build the base

• Roughly chop the carrots, celery, onion and add them to a food processor. Blend until finely chopped. Set aside.

• Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven over medium heat.

• Spoon the beef 1 tbsp at a time and cook batches to form a crust on each piece. No need to cook all the way through since it’ll simmer in the sauce. Set aside.

• In the same pot, drizzle more olive oil and add diced celery, onion, carrot and cook until softened, about 5–7 min. Add garlic and cook 1 min more.

• Add tomato paste and cook, stirring constantly, until it darkens from bright red to a deep brick red, about 5 min.

Deglaze & simmer

• Pour in red wine, scraping up any browned bits. Let it reduce by half, about 2–3 min.

• Add San Marzano tomatoes (crush by hand), chicken stock, parmesan rind, bay leaf, thyme, and oregano. Stir to combine and season with salt and pepper.

• Bring to a gentle simmer, then reduce heat to low. Simmer uncovered for 1.5-2 hrs until sauce is thick and deeply flavored. Remove parmesan rind and bay leaf before serving.

Tips & Notes

• The parmesan rind is the secret — it melts into the sauce adding a deep, savory richness.

• Cook the tomato paste until it darkens — this caramelizes the sugars and removes the raw taste

• Low and slow is everything — the longer it simmers, the more flavor!

• Tastes even better the next day — great for meal prep