I am so blessed to live in Northern California where I can hop in the car and within just a few minutes; I’m in wine country. Rolling foothills dotted with heritage oaks scattered between wineries with rows and rows of grapes growing along the hillsides in the warm sun. One of my favorite activities is to head up to Amador county with a handful of my best girlfriends to spend an afternoon wine tasting. A few years ago hubs talked me into joining the wine club at our favorite winery and it has turned out to be one of the best decisions we have made in a long time! Not only do we get some fantastic bottles of high end wines to enjoy each month, but as a member we also get to enjoy their complimentary pasta bar for lunch too.
Every time I stop by the winery to pick up my wine club bottles the winery includes an authentic Italian recipe in the box. This month Bella Piazza Winery featured this Red Wine Bolognese recipe. It doesn’t call for any exotic ingredients except for a good quality bottle of red wine. The recipe specifies a Sangiovese. Sangiovese wines are typically a full bodied red wine with fruit notes like cranberry, red currant, ripe red cherry, and strawberry followed by earthy, herbal notes. If you don’t have a Sangiovese on hand any dry good quality red wine with fruit forward notes will work beautifully for the sauce.
Start by heating olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
Add ground beef and cook until browned, breaking it into small crumbles as it cooks.
Remove the cooked beef from the skillet and keep warm.
Add diced onions and sliced carrots to the skillet and sauté the vegetables until the onions are translucent and carrots are tender, about 5 minutes.
Add basil, thyme, oregano and continue to sauté until fragrant, about a minute.
Good To Know: Adding the spices to the pan before adding any liquid will “bloom” and intensify their flavor as they are toasted in the skillet.
Add minced garlic and sauté until fragrant. Be careful to not let the garlic burn.
Deglaze the pan with a cup of good quality red wine, scraping the bottom of the pan to loosen any browned bits.
Add the cans of tomato sauce and stir to combine.
Add the sugar, salt, and pepper.
Return reserved cooked ground beef to the skillet.
Bring the meat sauce to a simmer and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally for 20-30 minutes.
Serve the sauce over cooked pasta and top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
Oh my goodness this was absolutely delicious! If you are craving a really good pasta meal with a hearty flavorful meat sauce, then this is the dish you have been looking for.
Every Italian meal needs a loaf of bread! How else are you going to mop up any of the delectable sauce left on your plate? Round out the meal by serving this pasta dish with a freshly baked artisanal loaf of bread like this one. Learn how easy it is to Bake Bread. This is my go to recipe and technique for when I want to bake up a loaf of bread with a soft center and crunchy exterior. This loaf has a crust with a good crunchy, chew. The best part? If you have the dough chilling in the fridge, you can bake up a fresh loaf of bread in just over an hour; it won’t take you all day. The hardest part, is waiting for the loaf to cool before you slice into it!
Add a Rich & Creamy Caesar Salad With Crisp, Garlicky Toasted Croutons and you will be serving up one of the best Italian meals ever!
This meal is fantastic! We enjoy it with the remaining bottle of Sangiovese, a freshly baked loaf of French bread and crisp Caesar salad. Leftovers for lunch the next day? Yes please!!!
Red Wine Bolognese
Equipment
- large skillet
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 cup carrots, sliced into ¼ inch rounds
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp dried basil
- ½ tsp dried thyme
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- 1 cup red wine (Sangiovese)
- (2) 14.5 oz tomato sauce
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- 1 lb Linguini or pasta of choice, cooked al dente in salted water
- grated Parmesan cheese, for garnish
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
- Add ground beef and cook until browned, breaking its into small crumbles as it cooks.
- Remove cooked beef from the skillet and keep warm.
- Add onions and carrots to the skillet and sauté vegetables until onions are translucent and carrots are tender, about 5 minutes.
- Add basil, thyme, oregano and continue to sauté until fragrant, about a minute.
- Add garlic and sauté until fragrant.
- Deglaze the pan with a cup of good quality red wine, scraping the bottom of the pan to loosen any browned bits.
- Add tomato sauce and stir to combine.
- Add the sugar, salt, and pepper.
- Return reserved cooked ground beef to the skillet.
- Bring the meat sauce to a simmer and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally for 20-30 minutes.
- Taste sauce and season with additional salt and pepper if needed.
- Serve the sauce over cooked pasta and top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
Did You Make This?
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Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
John 6:35
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