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Pappardelle with Bolognese Sauce

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Pappardelle with Bolognese Sauce

We’ve been to Italy twice but never during Carnivale. Ahh! What I wouldn’t do to participate in this grand winter festival.

In Italy, Carnivale aka Mardi Gras, comes complete with masquerade balls, romping music, colorful parades and delicious food. Lots and lots of delicious food. There are even places, like Venice for example, where festivities begin weeks before. They start the party early and keep it stoked until the last bit of confetti is swept and elaborate masks are securely tucked away in anticipation of next year’s celebration.

Pappardelle with Bolognese Sauce

In keeping with the Carnivale theme, Redpack Tomatoes is celebrating with a wonderful promotion which runs through March 4th. Every week, 1000 Redpack followers will get a tote bag and one lucky grand prize winner will receive a pasta stock pot, pasta related serveware and Redpack products. The total value of the prize is worth $350. I’m excited to be teaming up with Redpack to share the fun news about “Redpack Carnivale”, as well as to highlight a couple of their products in today’s recipe for Pappardelle with Bolognese Sauce.

Pappardelle with Bolognese Sauce

I had the idea to make sauce mostly because we were craving it. Speaking of sauce – do you guys call it sauce or gravy? Curious minds want to know… Back to what I was saying – sauce – yes, but it couldn’t be just any sauce. It needed to be special. I wanted to heighten the complexity of its flavor as well as its texture with ingredients like crispy pancetta and dry red wine.

Bolognese was born.

Well, not born, it was actually born centuries ago, just outside Bologna, Italy,  in what I imagine to be a perfectly-appointed Italian kitchen for its time. With braids of garlic hanging from the mantle of its wood-burning stove complete with yellow and blue ceramic plates propped on its hearth, where kettles and large pots bubble away and wooden spoons are strewn about this beautiful little villa where blush colored rose bushes and magnificent cypress trees line the stone drive.

Pappardelle with Bolognese Sauce

Let’s start again…my take on bolognese was born.

So the thing about a bolognese sauce…a meatier sauce…is it needs a sturdier pasta to match its beefier brawn.

Pappardelle with Bolognese Sauce

Enter pappardelle. This large, very broad flat noodle provides bolognese the surface it needs to create a balanced dish.

With this, the pasta doesn’t get lost and the sauce doesn’t overpower.

Balance.

Pappardelle with Bolognese Sauce

This meaty sauce with its hint of wine takes wintertime comfort food to a whole new level.

We could use that right about now.

Buon Appetito!

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Pappardelle with Bolognese Sauce

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  • Author: Ciao Chow Bambina
  • Category: Dinner
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Ingredients

Scale
  • 1/3 cup olive oil
  • 1/2 cup carrots, thinly sliced
  • 1 large yellow onion, chopped
  • 3 plump garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 4 oz. chopped pancetta
  • 12 oz. ground beef
  • 28 oz. Redpack Crushed Tomatoes
  • 28 oz. Redpack Diced Tomatoes
  • 1/4 cup dry red wine
  • 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
  • 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
  • 2 tsp. kosher salt
  • 1 tsp. cracked black pepper
  • 1 tsp. red pepper flakes
  • 1 lb. Pappardelle
  • 1/3 cup freshly grated Parmigianno-Reggiano cheese

Instructions

  1. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
  2. Add carrots and onion and sauté until soft.
  3. Add pancetta and garlic, sauté until meat is crisp.
  4. Add beef and cook until completely browned through.
  5. Add tomatoes, wine, fresh herbs, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes and cook until sauce thickens.
  6. Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water, until firm to the bite (al dente).
  7. Drain pasta and add sauce.
  8. Toss well to coat.
  9. Top with fresh Parmigianno-Reggiano.
  10. Serve immediately.

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Pappardelle with Bolognese Sauce

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Comments

  1. Bolognese is my hubby’s favorite. No matter what restaurant we go to if bolognese is on the menu he will undoubtedly order it. Yours look stunning. I think I will need to hide this recipe for fear that he will be requesting each and every night. .

    Reply

  4. I’d LOVE to go to Carnival too…. but for now, my mouth is completely watering for this Annie! I’ve just discovered pappardelle and I am, uh, in disbelief that it’s taken me so long to find it! And your sauce! The wine, spices, chunky tomatoes, fresh herbs…. this shouts pure comfort food! Your photography is so beautiful and highlights the deliciousness of your recipe! Thank you for another fabulous recipe, Annie!

    Reply

    • Yes…I figured for now, this is the closest we’re going to get to Carnivale. And I’m okay with that…for now! 🙂 Thank you so much, my dear.

      Reply

  7. Really enjoyed this post, Annie … what beautiful photos … and a beautiful-sounding sauce! (see, I called it sauce, not gravy)
    I agree that bolognese goes really well with pappardelle. It’s great with a sausage-based sauce, too!

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  8. We call it sauce, but my in-laws call it gravy. I think that’s a New England thing? Annie, you can make this for me any time. Yum! I love your description of the Italian kitchen…it was like a mini vacation. (But I won’t be satisfied until I return to Italy.) 🙂

    Reply

    • Yeah…my entire family calls it sauce but I’ve known folks to call it gravy. And yep, I agree with you…I won’t be satisfied until I’m eating arancini on the Spanish Steps! Thanks, Andrea!

      Reply

  12. Annie, seriously… this is not fair! Im drooling like a child that can’t eat the ice cream, or something. Bolognese is my favorite sauce (I call sauce!). And I also use tomatoes in mine, even though the original only asks for tomato paste. You will have to FEDEX me some right now because I’m really frustrated I can’t reach through the screen..

    Reply

    • Oh no!!! I’m so sorry – send me your address! Yes, I used a lot more tomato than the original calls for, and that recipe also includes milk. I’m so glad you like this version!! Thanks, dear! 🙂

      Reply

  13. Goodness! Where to begin? That sauce? Spot on. Must have. Carnivale? Want to go. That kitchen you described? Already went. I just adore every single thing about this post. I think I have those same stemless wineglasses in your beautiful photos. 🙂

    Reply

  15. Carnival sounds like a lot of fun Annie! And the bolognese sauce you made looks delicious! I was planning on cooking pasta for dinner and will probably try this recipe!

    Reply

  16. Annie, bolognese sauce is like my fave thing to make and pappardelle noodles are my fave!! I LOVE how you described that Italian kitchen . . with braids of garlic hanging from the mantle of its wood-burning stove . . you transported me to Italy. . ah, I wish I could really go there!!! love this bolognese sauce!!

    Reply

    • Oh yes – any excuse to go back!! We were in Rome and Florence in August, with some day jaunts to other places which included Venice – but it’s never enough!! Thanks, Dannii!

      Reply

  19. I wish I were in Italy right now also!! Sigh. Someday!! Redpack tomatoes have always been my parents’ tomatoes of choice when making tomato sauce…your bolognese looks so hearty and delicious!

    Reply

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