Kenwood Vineyards Bolognese

Those of you who know us, know Dave and I occasionally enjoy a glass of wine.  Ok, well more than occasionally.  We like wine and one of our favorite vineyards is Kenwood.  We've been wine club members there for 6 or 8 years now and with each shipment they send us recipes.  Many years ago now, I can't believe it took me this long to share the recipe, they sent this recipe for bolognese.

There are only two pasta sauces served in my house, this one when I want a meat sauce and my Grandmother's when we want a traditional red sauce. You will not be served a jarred sauce here.  Well, that's not entirely true.  If, by some horror of circumstances there is none of the aforementioned sauces in the house I will buy a jar of Mario Batali's arrabiata sauce.  It's very good and there's no sugar or additives or preservatives in it.

But today I made bolognese.  We got close to a foot of snow here in MN today.  Nothing much is moving.  Schools are all closed and I was off of work anyway so why not simmer some sauce?

Ingredients:
2 pounds extra lean ground beef
1 pound Italian sausage
2 medium onions, diced
1/2 cup fresh garlic, minced
3 cups diced green bell pepper
1 tablespoon whole fennel seeds
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
8 cups chopped tomatoes
4 cups tomato sauce
2 cups tomato paste
1 bottle red wine, suggested Kenwood Sonoma County Merlot
4 cups veal stock
2 Tablespoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
3 tablespoons fresh rosemary
2 tablespoons fresh oregano

Directions:
Saute meat in sauce pan.  Add onions, garlic, bell pepper, spices and chili flakes.  Season with salt and pepper.

Add tomatoes and wine.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 2-3 hours.

Add stock and season again with salt and pepper.  Add herbs and turn off heat.

There's a bit of chopping with the peppers and onions.  Anyone interested in buying me a Christmas gift, I'd love onion goggles!  I chopped a lot of onions today.  Would have loved goggles!

 
I used good grass fed Highland beef from Butternut Woods Farm and sausage from my friends at Otis Family Farm. In season I would use fresh tomatoes but, well, it's the dead of winter so I used canned.  I really like the Muir Glen Fire Roasted Diced! 

 And when I'm not lazy I will chop up a half cup of garlic.  I've even been known to roast it then chop it up.  Today I was lazy and used jarred garlic. 

 Once the meat is well browned, the onions, peppers, garlic and spices are added.  I love cinnamon in pasta and pasta sauce.  The cheese ravioli filling my grandmother taught me to make has cinnamon in it.  It surprises everyone who tastes it, in a good way! 

 To this the tomatoes, tomoto sauce and tomato paste are added. 

 Then, the best part of this sauce, an entire bottle of merlot! 

This is simmered for a couple of hours.  The house always smells so good when I'm making sauce. Finally some veal stock (I've used beef stock when I can't find veal) and fresh herbs are added.

The recipe makes 7 quarts of sauce.  I pack this up in gallon zip top bags and freeze it.  When we are looking for a quick dinner I pull it out, heat it up and pour it over pasta.  When we're entertaining it makes an amazing lasagna or baked ziti.  Thank you Kenwood vineyards for a recipe that is now a staple in our home!