It's been raining for what feels like months, although it's really only been a week. Northern Californians either wholeheartedly embrace the rain and fog typical of winter in our Mediterranean climate, or (like me) wholeheartedly despise the gloomy weather. In typical years, our winters are quite mild with beautiful deep, clear blue skies and temperatures in the mid-50's to mid-60's, interspersed with some heavy rain/fog/windstorms. This runs from about late November to early March. Every once in a while, though, we have very wet winters with rainstorm after rainstorm, and gloomy day after gloomy day. That's been this winter, and I am heartily sick of it. On the plus side, though, because we haven't been able to use our outdoor kitchen and grill, I am doing quite a bit more cooking at the stove. This has resulted in dedicated time to perfect a few things I have been trying to master for years. Bolognese sauce is one of those.
I like to use a zinfandel or sangiovese for red pasta sauces because I like the fruity and peppery notes these wines give to the sauce. Tonight, though, we had a Petite Sirah open from the night before and there was quite a bit left. I have this quirk that whatever wine I put in the sauce has to be drunk with the meal, or the experience just isn't right. Weird, I know, because I don't do this at restaurants at all. So, I decided to try the Petite Sirah, not wanting to have two open bottles hanging around. The sauce turned out to be one of my best efforts yet, and the wine complemented the meal perfectly. Below are the recipe and my tasting notes.
Bolognese ala Francesca
1 lb. ground beef, veal, pork, or turkey
1/2 C chopped onion
1/2 C diced carrots
1/2 C diced celery
3-4 cloves pressed garlic
1 Tbl. extra virgin olive oil
Basil, oregano, marjoram, thyme, either fresh or dried, to taste
1 large can tomato puree or tomatoes in sauce (chop tomatoes if using those)
1 small can tomato paste
1 C red wine
2 Tbl. mascarpone (fresh mozzarella) cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
Brown ground meat in skillet. Drain, remove meat and set aside. Heat skillet over medium heat, add olive oil. Add vegetables, pressed garlic, and herbs, saute until onion is golden and soft. In large saucepan, add meat, vegetables, tomato puree (or tomoatoes and juice), tomato paste, and red wine. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, for 45 to 60 minutes, until desired consistency is reached. Add mascarpone cheese, salt and pepper to taste. (Actually, I usually taste the sauce about halfway through and adjust all the seasonings.)
To serve pasta and sauce, I cook the pasta until it is nearly done (remove about 2 minutes early) and drain it. Then I put the pasta back into the pan, add the sauce, and cook this over medium-low heat for the remaning time.
What we drank:
Bogle 2004 Clarksburg Reserve Petite Sirah Merritt Island
The nose was lovely, full-bodied and rich with blackberry and oak. The front and middle of the wine were nicely balanced and very smooth, with deliciously juicy flavors of blackberry, oak and cinnamon. The finish, though, was quite tannic, and felt rough to me, although I loved the lingering notes of pepper and oak. I gave the wine 7 out of 10 because I felt the finish was flawed. However, I did notice that with time in the glass, the tannins softened and became much rounder, making me wish we'd aged this another year or so. Bogle sold out of this wine a long time ago, and this was our last bottle, so I am sad. Live and learn!
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