Ragu Bolognese

I had big plans for the weekend.  They involved spending lots of time cooking and a little bit of time cleaning.  Neither happened and I'm not really sure why.  Regardless, I've rescheduled my cooking and cleaning plans for this week.  Seriously who am I kidding?  As a SAHM, one day is almost like the next so it doesn't really matter to me.  The only thing I try not to do on the weekend is shop.  I've never liked grocery shopping on Saturday or Sunday; crowded stores, grumpy people, parents dragging their uncooperative children, and the little old ladies and men.  I've never understood why a certain segment of the retired community insists on shopping with the rest of the working world.  It drives me crazy.  Consequently, I have vowed to not shop on the weekend unless absolutely necessary.  Those of you that have to shop on the weekend don't need me and my kids slowing you down.  You're welcome.  ;)


Back to my bolognese sauce.  My goto meat ragu is from the magnificent How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman.  That sauce is extra meaty and delicious and I always make a double batch so I can freeze some or make a lasagne.  Yum yum!  Yesterday I was flipping through Molto Italiano by Mario Batali, because I like to read cookbooks (no judging please), and decided to try his ragu bolognese.  

I used my food processor to chop the onions, celery and carrots.  I even used it to chop up the bacon.  The recipe calls for pancetta or slab bacon but I used regular Kirkland smoked bacon.  Again, please don't judge.  It's what I had in the house.


Thanks to my most beloved food processor, I was able to make the sauce in just over an hour and a half.  Sounds labour intensive but it really wasn't.  An hour of the time is unattended simmering time.  Yay!


Absolutely amazing.  Heavenly.  Marvelously meaty.  I can't say I'm surprised really.  I love his recipes.  I'm not willing to say if I like it better than Mark Bittman's without a side by side taste test.  Similar yet different.  I'm having difficulty not digging into the pot and eating large spoonfuls of it.