Waste Not - Want Not Bolognese

Growing up in a Sicilian household Bolognese was not a dish that was served. The traditional pasta dishes had meatballs or spareribs with the occasional fried eggs thrown in for good measure. (Don’t knock the fried eggs - they are delicious after slowly simmering in a rich meat sauce! You should try it!). Back to the bolognese though…I developed a love for a good bolognese sauce. It started with dinners out at nice Italian restaurants and quickly became a dish I became focused on getting good at making. My kids loved spaghetti and when my Mom’s Spaghetti and Meatballs ran out in the freezer I could appease them with Bolognese. Now that my Mom has passed I have gotten fairly decent at replicating her spaghetti with meatballs. I will post about that post Covid19 Shut In because it takes hours and my patience is running thinner as time goes on. But I digress so back to the bolognese … I tried a number of different recipes until I found a Spaghetti Bolognese recipe in the cookbook “What’s Cooking - Italian” by Penny Stephens. This is a really delicious and simple recipe and I made it for years until I didn’t. But I am including the recipe in the recipe section because it is very good and you might like it as much as I did.

So why “Waste Not - Want Not Bolognese”? This is a recipe that happened by accident to be honest. Our family has grown. Just the immediate family consists of 12 and my little bolognese recipe didn’t expand that well. On top of that sometimes I “over buy” and would find my freezer a little heavy with Italian Sausage, Ground Beef and Ground Pork. One day with the entire family gathered at our home in San Diego I was struggling with what to make for dinner. Traditionally I use San Marzano canned tomatoes for my Bolognese but I only had one can. Enter Bertolli Organic Olive Oil, Basil and Garlic pasta sauce. I just happened to have three jars of that. A couple hours later I had a Bolognese Sauce that my son-in-law (who is an amazing chef) Josh stated was the Best Sauce Ever. It was a combination of amazing fresh ingredients with a little help from Bertolli. What is great about this sauce is that it freezes so well. I love a recipe that can be put in the freezer for a future date when you don’t have the energy but still want a delicious meal. I would venture to say it tastes better after being in the freezer. My grandma Josephine would consider that heresy but …the times they are a changing!

I know a lot of us are cooking with what we have in the freezer or the pantry right now as we shelter in place. This is a time where we need to use what we have and waste nothing. I encourage you to do just that -improvise!! If you don’t have pancetta use fresh bacon, if you don’t have one of the meats then leave it out and reduce your sauce by a jar. Or use the San Marzano tomatoes if you have them and include the herbs recommended by Penny Stephens. What ever you do - just know that your family appreciates the care you are giving them and that will make any dish taste delicious. Enjoy and Mangia!