Pasta Bolognese
This past Saturday was Open That Bottle Night 2009. In case you haven’t heard of this festive occasion, it is a made up holiday started 10 years ago by wine writers John Brecher and Dorothy Gaiter, a husband and wife team who write for the Wall Street Journal. (Their column, Tastings, is available online for free every Friday and has some of the most reliable and approachable wine advice out there.) John and Dorothy started this holiday to encourage people to open “that” bottle – the bottle you could never find a reason or occasion special enough to open. Since our wine drinking/buying is still in its infancy, we didn’t have any “occasion” wine waiting for this night. Instead we decided to celebrate in spirit by cooking up a large Italian meal and watching The Godfather (It was my first viewing – what took me so long?!)

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Since our family motto should very likely be “go big or go home”, we decided to go big by making homemade Italian sausage, bolognese sauce, and pasta. It was an all day event filled with grinding, simmering, tasting, and cursing at the pasta machine. In the end the Italian sausage was incredible. We used a recipe from The Paupered Chef, and I will state here for the record: I will never buy Italian sausage again. It was a very simple process with amazing results. Thank you to Nick for the recipe and beautiful instructions. Our bolognese sauce was also a winner. By slowly simmering the sauce for about 5 hours we ended up with deep flavors, complex sweetness, and a nice spicy kick from the sausage.

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The pasta – well that was a complete disaster. Yes it looks okay in the photo above, but it was gummy, thick and generally miserable. I’ll simply say that pasta machines bought off infomercials in the 90′s are not good for anything other than pizza delivery. Luckily I had a pound of quality dried pasta as a backup and we pitched the gelatinous mess of noodles before they violated the sauce. (A KitchenAid Pasta Attachment is now on order from Amazon, so hopefully I’ll have a pasta success to report back soon!) In the meantime, here are the recipes for the Italian sausage and Bolognese sauce.

Zabilogne

Oh, wait! You wanted to hear about dessert right? No Italian feast would be complete without dessert. Cannoli was the obvious choice for this meal (“Leave the Gun. Take the cannoli.”). However, when attempting this without the aide of a pasta roller last summer I ended up with horrific cannoli. I still shudder at the thought. So very ugly. Instead we went with a zabaglione from my favorite Italian cookbook. I had never made a zabaglione before and didn’t know what to expect. It was quite easy (3 ingredients) and about blew my taste buds out of my mouth. This will absolutely show up in our kitchen again. We loved it.* If you can make it through the bolognese recipe without drooling too much, the zabaglione recipe is right behind it!

*Caveat – The zabaglione has a strong flavor of marsala/port and is probably not very kid friendly.


Making the Bolognese Sauce
Bolognese Stove Top Step-by-Step

Pasta Bolognese
Serves 6-8

Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Tablespoon butter
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1 celery stick, diced
1 carrot, diced
2 large onions (3 cups) chopped
1 cup sliced mushrooms
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 pounds Italian sausage, medium to spicy heat (recipe link)
2 15oz cans tomato sauce
1 28 oz can Italian style crushed tomatoes
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 cup dry white wine (I used extra dry vermouth)
2 tsp basil
2 tsp oregano
2 tsp thyme
2 Tablespoons fresh Italian parsley, minced
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 Tablespoon kosher salt
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup medium dry sherry

1 lb hearty pasta, such as penne or rigatoni
Grated Parmesan or Grana Padano cheese

Directions:

Place a large saucepan (5-6 quart) over medium heat. Add olive oil and butter to pan. Heat until butter and oil begin to foam. Add bell pepper, celery, carrot, onions, and mushrooms. Saute stirring occasionally until vegetables are softened, about 8 minutes. Add minced garlic and stir, cooking until fragrant, about 1 minute. Push vegetables to the sides of the pan, and add Italian sausage into the center. Cook until meat is well browned, using a spoon to break up any large chunks.

Once the sausage is browned, add balsamic vinegar and white wine to the pan. Stir with a wooden spoon, scraping the bottom of the pan to dislodge any browned bits. Cook until liquids are reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Next add tomato sauce and crushed tomatoes, stirring to incorporate. Add all remaining ingredients except the sherry. Stir well, turn heat to a low simmer, and cover the pan, leaving the lid just slightly offset so steam can escape. (This keeps the sauce from splattering all over kitchen too.) Gently simmer on your lowest setting for two hours. After two hours stir in the sherry, and then continue to simmer for another 1-2 hours for a total time of 3-4 hours. The sauce will thicken and turn a deep concentrated red.

Cook the pasta according to package instructions, until al dente. Drain, reserving 1/4 cup of pasta water. Add reserved pasta water into the saucepan. Stir well, then add in drained pasta. When pasta is well coated, plate and top with freshly grated Parmesan or Grana Padano cheese.

Zabaglione (Freddo or Caldo – Hot or Cold)
Adapted from Biba’s Northern Italian Cooking'
Serves 6-8 (small portions, this is very rich)

Ingredients:
8 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup dry Marsala wine, sherry or port
(I used a ratio of half Marsala and half Medium Dry Sherry because I ran out of Marsala.)

Berries and Powdered Sugar to Garnish

Directions:

Using a large bowl, or the top of a double boiler, mix together egg yolks and sugar, beating until pale and thick. Set the bowl on top of the double boiler or pot filled with simmering water. Do not let the water boil. This will overcook the eggs. Slowly add the Marsala, sherry, or port – beating mixture constantly. Zabaglione is done when it triples in volume and is soft and fluffy. This will take 4-6 minutes. (I wouldn’t use the word fluffy to describe mine. It looked more like a soft custard.) Spoon into individual glasses and serve hot or place glasses in the fridge and serve cold.

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