When I broke my fifteen-plus years of vegetarianism, this bolognese was one of the dishes I was most excited to enjoy again. I don’t have an Italian grandmother or any particular memory of it, but the experience of this kind of sauce is everything that makes cooking feel like magic. As the meat browns and begins to go from soft and pink to dark brown and crispy, the air is full of savory, buttery smells. You add the vegetables and the aroma becomes
more complex, then suddenly a rush of steam and a burst of bright sweetness hit you as the wine deglazes the pan. Then the tomato paste mixes with the fats, and suddenly it looks like sauce and smells almost illegally savory. Finally, the tomato and milk and parmesan simmer, and you take off the lid and it’s gone from soupy to a thick, red, oily sauce that smells like everything you could ever want. It’s not fast, but this is Potions Class and you are making magic.
This recipe is from Good Enough.
My newest creation, Good Enough, is a self-care cookbook that offers personal and
vulnerable storytelling, delicious recipes, and encouraging advice to teach you how to
accept yourself, love yourself, and find peace through the act of cooking.
Learn more!I have more cookbooks, too!
TL;DR: Brown beef and pork, combine with chopped vegetables, and cook for 20 minutes. Deglaze pan, add remaining sauce ingredients, and cook for 45 minutes more. As the sauce cooks, boil pasta, grate cheese, and chop parsley for serving.
Servings
8 to 12
Servings
8 to 12
Cozy Cold-Weather Bolognese
Print Recipe
TL;DR: Brown beef and pork, combine with chopped vegetables, and cook for 20 minutes. Deglaze pan, add remaining sauce ingredients, and cook for 45 minutes more. As the sauce cooks, boil pasta, grate cheese, and chop parsley for serving.
Servings
8 to 12
Servings
8 to 12
Ingredients
4tablespoonsbutter(1/2 stick)
1poundground beef
1poundground pork
1teaspoonfine sea saltplus more to taste
2smallred onionsdiced
1largecarrotdiced
2ribscelerydiced
1(any color)bell pepperstemmed, seeded, and diced
1/2cupdry white wine
6tablespoonstomato paste(3 oz)
128 oz. cantomatoescrushed or diced
1cupwhole milk
1parmesan rind(see note)
1poundpasta of your choicesuch as tagliatelle (traditional) or orecchiette (pictured)
grated parmesanfor serving
chopped flat leaf parsleyfor serving
Instructions
Melt the butter in a Dutch oven or a large heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. If it begins to brown, that is just fine, but make sure it doesn’t burn. Add the beef, pork, and 1 teaspoon of salt and break up the meat with a wooden spoon. Let the meat cook, stirring occasionally, until it is no longer pink and has plenty of dark brown bits, 15 to 20 minutes.
Add the onions, carrot, celery, and bell pepper to the browned meat and stir. Place a tight lid on top and let the vegetables sweat, stirring occasionally, until they cook down about halfway in volume and your kitchen smells incredibly savory, about 20 minutes.
At this point you will probably have some dark brown sticky bits on the bottom of the pan. This is good! Pour in the white wine and stir to gently lift the brown bits off the bottom of the pan. Cook until the mixture dries out a bit, a few minutes more.
Add the tomato paste, mix it up with everything, and leave it until it loses its bright red uncooked color, a couple of minutes. Then add the canned tomatoes, milk, and parmesan rind—which will add a lot of savory saltiness! Stir it all together and put the lid on, just a little askew so a small amount of steam can escape. Turn down the heat to low and gently simmer for about 45 minutes.
Cook the pasta in boiling salted water according to the package instructions, but take it off the heat a minute or so before it reaches al dente. That way the pasta will cook through in the sauce, drinking in a little more of the bolognese flavor. Drain the pasta and taste the sauce; add more salt, if needed. Add the pasta to the sauce and cook until it is al dente and totally covered in sauce, a minute or so.
Remove the parmesan rind and serve the pasta and sauce in bowls, topped with grated parmesan and chopped parsley. Any leftovers will keep in a sealed container for a week in the fridge.
Recipe Notes
Note: The white wine deglazes the pan, meaning it gets the delicious brown bits into the sauce instead of letting them burn.
Note: I make a lighter, warm- weather version of this by substituting finely chopped cauliflower for half the meat; I add the cauliflower with the other vegetables in Step 2. It is still lovely and hearty without sitting quite so heavily in your tummy.
Note: The parmesan rind adds salty richness to the sauce. If you don’t have one, just add 1 extra teaspoon of salt in Step 4.
My newest creation, Good Enough, is a self-care cookbook that offers personal and
vulnerable storytelling, delicious recipes, and encouraging advice to teach you how to
accept yourself, love yourself, and find peace through the act of cooking.
Learn more!I have more cookbooks, too!
It has taken maturity to embrace the glorious simplicity of this kind of dinner. My inner critic is prone to telling me that it’s not creative enough or new enough or whatever overachieving mark you might expect from a perfectionist fantasy. But this stew is made of pantry staples, comes together in 20 minutes, and is delicious, nourishing, and balanced. It’s a dream of a meal—fun to make, fun to eat, and proof that simple is wonderful. Like all stews, it gets better with a few days in the fridge. It also works well as a side dish for a larger barbecue meal and as a potluck dish.
Fast White Bean, Chorizo and Hearty Greens Stew
Print Recipe
TL;DR: Sauté vegetables, then chorizo and tomato paste. Add beans and water and cook until thickened and flavorful. Add greens and eat.
Servings
4
Servings
4
Fast White Bean, Chorizo and Hearty Greens Stew
Print Recipe
TL;DR: Sauté vegetables, then chorizo and tomato paste. Add beans and water and cook until thickened and flavorful. Add greens and eat.
Servings
4
Servings
4
Ingredients
2tbspbutter
2shallots (or 1 red onion)chopped
1bell pepperstemmed, seeded, and chopped
1tspfine sea saltplus extra as needed
5ouncesfresh chorizo or other sausagecasings removed
1tbsptomato paste
2canswhite beans or chickpeas15.5 oz each or thereabouts
handfulshearty greens, such as spinach, kale, chard, or collards
Farro, pasta, rice, or hearty bread, for serving
Instructions
Melt the butter in a medium pot over medium-high heat. Add the shallots, bell pepper, and 1⁄2 teaspoon of the salt to the pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until the shallots are translucent, 3 to 5 minutes
Add the chorizo and tomato paste, using a wooden spoon to
break up the chorizo. Cook until the chorizo is cooked through and beginning to brown, another 3 minutes. Then add the beans, 11⁄2 cups of water, and the remaining 1⁄2 teaspoon of salt. Put a lid on the pot and let it cook for about 10 minutes.
Taste the stew and add more salt if you think it needs it. Squish a few of the beans with the back of the spoon to thicken the broth. Turn off the heat, add the greens, and stir them into the stew until wilted.
Dollop the stew into bowls over farro, pasta, or rice, or serve with bread for dunking.
Recipe Notes
FEELING ADVENTUROUS?
• Use any sausage, ground meat, or meat alternative in place of the chorizo in Step 2. Try sweet Italian sausage, finished with parmesan or romano, for a different experience, or lamb sausage with harissa, coriander, and fennel seed for a North african take on the dish.
• add chile powder and/or chopped chiles along with the chorizo in Step 2.
The cost of shrimp really varies, so save this one until you can find a deal—under about $8 per pound. I ended up having to remove this from the 2nd edition of Good and Cheap because the price variation was so extreme and I didn’t want to steer anyone wrong. But it’s a classic from a time when shrimp was the food of the poorer masses and the rich people had no idea what they were missing.
I didn’t grow up with grits myself, but somehow fell in love with them anyway. I have had many disappointing versions of this dish in NYC restaurants and after a particularly frustrating experience (like 2 tiny shrimp on a bed of undercooked and under-seasoned, practically gummy grits—a travesty) I decided to make it myself. Luckily, like so many of the great dishes, it is remarkably easy to make at home!
This is far from an authentic Southern version of this dish, but it is absolutely delicious. Southerners will demand you use white stone-ground corn for this to be true grits, and I won’t quibble, but feel free to use yellow if it doesn’t offend you.
My first book! From Scratch is a vegetarian cookbook intended for people just becoming comfortable in their
own kitchens. Just like with Good and Cheap, the
PDF is free.
Print copies are a pricier than you might expect because this book is printed on demand (1 copy at a time).
Another classic from the archives while I’m away for the holidays. This Cauliflower soup is also from my first cookbook, From Scratch. I put it in with my middle sister, Emily, in mind and it totally worked, she makes it all the time (or so she claims!). It’s right for her because she is always trying to eat more vegetables, but they are not her favorite thing. This soup is almost pure vegetables, but it’s also creamy and warm and satisfying and a little spicy and cheesy; just right for the reluctant vegetable eater.
My newest creation, Good Enough, is a self-care cookbook that offers personal and
vulnerable storytelling, delicious recipes, and encouraging advice to teach you how to
accept yourself, love yourself, and find peace through the act of cooking.
Learn more here!