This bolognese sauce is intensely appetizing, with a perfect combination of seasoning and depth of flavors. It's a restaurant quality dish that tastes amazing and is easy to make.
Melt 3 Tb butter in Dutch oven or a heavy large pot, over medium heat. Add onion, carrot, and celery and cook 5-7 minutes until softened.
If using unseasoned ground meat, mix about 1/2 tsp salt into meat before adding it to the pot. Add meat to pot and cook, breaking up large pieces of ground meat with wooden spoon, until cooked through.
Stir in whole milk. Bring to simmer. Cook for 10-15 minutes. Stir in wine, bring back to simmer, and cook another 10-15 minutes.
Stir in chopped tomatoes, tomato juices, and bay leaves. Bring to simmer again. Once it is back to a good simmer, reduce heat even lower so that sauce is just barely simmering, with occasional bubble or two at surface. Let sauce barely simmer, uncovered, for about 3 hours. Stir only occasionally.
Once sauce finishes simmering, it should appear visibly reduced. At this point, skim excess oil off the top of sauce. Add salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.
Bring generously-salted water to boil in a large pot. Cook pasta until al dente, and reserve 1/2 cup or more of the pasta water. Drain rest of the water and return pasta to the pot. Add Bolognese sauce and the remaining 2 TB of butter to the pasta, tossing to combine. Add some pasta water as needed for saucier consistency. Serve warm, with freshly shredded Parmesan.
Notes
Wine Pairing Note: Pasta Bolognese goes beautifully with a light, bright Italian red, such as Sangiovese or Chianti.Nutrition information is for bolognese sauce only. If you enjoyed this recipe, please come back and give it a rating ♡