A decade ago, my mother-in-law Mary gave me this pot. She had two Dutch ovens, and the bigger one was getting too heavy for her to use. So I got it.
When it comes out, Something Big is coming. Something a gandma would cook, pouring thirty or more years of practice into the red pot.
As we near the end of tomato season at the farmers market, it’s time to make the ragu bolognese for the winter. Today is the day.
The soffritto is chopped and cooked for 40 minutes to caramelize. Onions, celery, and carrot, and a little garlic.
Three pounds of ground meat are cooking through now, melding with the vegetables. Another thirty minutes or so. Next we add a bit of salt and a touch of nutmeg. Then we’ll add some milk to soften the meat and protect it from the wine (that’s next, after the milk).
Once those two have been absorbed, we mill several pounds of roasted tomatoes into the pot and let this beast simmer for NO LESS THAN THREE HOURS. Santa Marcella says, and she knows, people.
Near finish time, I’ll roll out fresh pappardalle, blanch some green beans for a plate of almandine beans, and then we will eat some dinner.
And four or five tubs of sauce will go into the freezer after dinner, so we can do this again every week or so all winter. I thank my mom, my mother-in-law, and Santa Marcella for the tools, confidence, and recipe to make this annual tradition happen — as it has for nearly 35 years now. Mangiamo!
What will you have?