Cooking Bolognese Style In Bologna

While on our city tour of Bologna, we were told

that Bologna was known as "The Fat One" meaning

 that the food from Bologna is rich.

I am now going to share with you some of

"The Fat One's" recipes!

While my husband takes the photo (he also sat in on the

classes) we are shown left to right - me, Antonella,

Tonya, Victoria and my lucky daughter Amanda, who

got to come along.

Victoria and Antonella are friends of Tonya who

come from aristocratic families and love to cook.

They were so gracious to shop for us and come and

give us lessons for two days. 

 Antonella also invited

us to her home.  I will show you her home and her

kitchen later.

This menu I printed over the symbol of

Bologna taken from a picture I took of gates to a park.

We started with the Bolognese sauce as it needs to cook

for 2 hours.

Antonella and Victoria explained the various cooking

of some of the regions of Italy and said that

Bologna has lots of milk and butter in its

cooking (hence "the fat one") as they are

abundant here.  I was surprised how much milk

they cooked with.

Bolognese Sauce Recipe

In food processor grind

 1 carrot

1 medium sized white onion

1 stalk celery

Add to a pan with about 1/4 C. water and cook 

about 15 minutes or until soft and the water

is evaporated.  

Add 1/2 lb. ground or finely chopped pancetta

Cook about another 15 minutes until

the pancetta is cooked through.

Add 2 lb. ground beef (medium grind) and

cook until it is cooked through.  

Once the meat is cooked through pour about

1 quart of whole milk over the ground meat.

It should almost cover the meat.  Cook on 

medium heat until all the milk is absorbed

into the meat, stirring once in a while.

(This was the most surprising step to me.)

Once the milk is absorbed add about a quart

of tomato sauce, again just about covering

the meat.  Continue to simmer this for 

about 2 hours.  

After it has simmer for 2 hours add

salt and pepper to taste.

Once the meat got cooking we began the 

pork roast as it cooks around 2 hours also.

Antonella brought her pans and they were

huge restaurant sized pans.  My husband asked

about that, commenting on the typically small

Italian kitchen and so Antonella said that she

wanted us to come and see her kitchen the next

day and see how small it was, yet she cooks for

huge crowds all the time.

This roast was just "melt in your mouth" and was all done

on the stove top.  It also cooks for a long time so we

got that cooking right away too.

Rosemary Roast Pork Recipe

Place a large pork loin in a large pan.  You could

cut it in half if it won't fit into your pan.

Top the roast with 1- 8 inch sprig of fresh rosemary

and 1 clove of garlic, sliced.

(This is a picture of the pork roast we made when we returned.)

Pour in 1 quart of milk.

Bring the milk to a boil and then reduce to a simmer.

Simmer covered for 2 1/2 hours. Add more milk if

necessary so it doesn't boil dry.  Check for doneness by

piercing with a bamboo skewer.  If it comes out pink

it isn't done.  I like mine to just melt in your mouth, 

so you might want to cook it a little longer, until it

pulls apart easily with a fork.

When the meat is done, remove the meat and 

let it sit to cool.  Strip the rosemary leaves

from the stalk and discard the stalk.  Replace the 

leaves in the sauce and then blend the sauce until 

smooth in a food processor.  Add 1 pint heavy cream

to the sauce and bring to a boil.  Reduce until thickened.  Salt and pepper

to taste. (I added about 1 tsp. salt and a few grinds of pepper.)

Slice the meat and replace in the sauce.

This was so easy and so amazingly delicious.

Next we made the Cherry or Amarena Semifreddo

because it needs to freeze.  This was a delicious frozen

ice cream that you don't need an ice cream maker for.

I had read about semifreddo before but never made one.

Amarena Semifreddo Recipe

4 large eggs, separated

1 1/4 C. powdered sugar

2 C. heavy cream

1/2 jar Amarenas in syrup

Beat the egg yolks with the powdered sugar

until well mixed.  In a clean bowl beat the egg whites

until stiff.  Set aside.  Beat the whipping cream until

soft peaks.  Fold the whites into the yolk mixture and

then gently fold the whipping cream in.  Add the sweetened

cherries and fold in.  Pour into desired pan.

Freeze about 6 hours until solid.  Top with remaining

cherries and serve.

They had a wonderful silicone mold loaf mold but

we made it when we got home in a springform pan.

(These are pictures of the one we made when we returned.)

We brought home a couple of jars of the cherries.  If you can

find them, buy them.  They are amazing.  You could use

any fruit filling to flavor yours.  You will notice how much

more yellow the one we made in Italy was.  If you have

ever used their eggs you will remember how orange their

yolks are.  That is the difference.  Mine at home was a

creamy white because our eggs are so much less intense in

color.

This was fantastic.

We finished the afternoon by making the homemade

pasta - tagliatelle.  I had received the pasta attachment

to my Kitchenaid for Christmas two years ago but had

never used it.  Antonella had brought her Kitchenaid

and she had the pasta attachment.  Wow, was that fun and

so easy.  We won't be making the pasta with the hand

cranked version again!

 Notice again the bright orange color of the pasta

because of the color of the eggs.

We made the pasta with half regular flour and

half semolina flour which gives it a nicer, firmer

texture.

First the pasta was mixed in the Kitchenaid

then kneaded by hand until  smooth.

Then a small piece was cut off , floured and rolled through

the pasta roller, once at number 1, then folded in thirds

and rolled again at number 1, then folded in thirds

and once again at number 1.  Then we floured the

piece and rolled it once at each succeeding number

and finishing with twice at number 8.

The strips of rolled dough were then laid out on a sheet

and allowed to dry just until dry to the touch (15-20 minutes).

We then put on the pasta cutter and ran the strips through

and let them dry again in little nests until we were done

cutting the dough.

The noodles only boil about 30 seconds to 1 minute

after they resume boiling since the pasta is fresh.

Fresh Semolina Pasta Recipe

2 C. flour

2 C. semolina flour

6 large eggs

pinch salt

Mix everything with a dough hook in your mixer,

then on a floured counter, knead until smooth.  Cover,

let rest for about 10 minutes, then cover again

while rolling out portions of the dough.

You should use about 1 egg per person you are

serving.  The pasta is easy to freeze, just place

it in a ziploc bag, uncooked and freeze.

Here it is pictured with the Bolognese sauce and sprinkled

with Parmesan cheese.

The menu was rounded out with fresh peas cooked with

white onion and pancetta.  What a lovely side dish

that made.

We loved this meal so much that our first Sunday home

we treated our kids and the grandkids to the roast pork,

a seared Italian steak called Tagliata, grilled Italian

flatbread, fresh beans with pancetta and the Cherry

Semifreddo and everything was as delicious as it

was in Bologna!

MOLTO BENE

We couldn't have had more beautiful and charming teachers

who gave us the flavors of Bologna.  This was only

day one, I will follow this up with day two's foods.

I will be posting this with

Foodie Friday