What's for Dinner {29} - Simple Bolognese with a Twist

Remember when I posted about Giada's Simple Bolognese recipe we tried recently? If not, go check it out here. It was seriously easy to make and a little fancier than normal meat sauce over pasta. Gspice was especially excited about the carrots. Who knew? But do you also remember how I said that I'd try using something better than ground beef? Well, that's what I did!

I didn't stray too far from Giada's recipe. Really, I only switched the meat and added in a couple other things to liven it up. With only these few changes, it made such a big difference! SOOOO good. If ever I was afraid of using my food processor before, afraid I am no longer. Seriously, it's one of my favorite appliances at the moment and I only have a teeny tiny one! Imagine what I could do with a big one!

Back to the recipe (Since I linked back to my Simple Bolognese post and gave credit to Giada's recipe there, I will not do that here. It's more my own now anyhow!)

Simple Bolognese with a Twist

*1/4 c extra-virgin olive oil

*1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
*2 garlic cloves, peeled and coarsely chopped

*1 carrot, coarsely chopped
*1 lb ground pork
*1 lb skirt steak

*1 (28-oz) can crushed tomatoes
*1/4 cup flat-leaf Italian parsley, chopped
*8 fresh basil leaves, chopped

*1 T Worcestershire
*1 t red pepper flakes
*s & p as needed
*1/4 cup Parmesan

First step is to grind up your skirt steak unless you're lucky enough to find some already ground at the store. No such luck for me. Thankfully, I've got that obsession with my food processor now so it was no big deal. I just cut the steak in to little strips before sticking them in the processor. It took me two different batches to get it all ground up but took no time at all.

In a large skillet heat the olive oil. When almost smoking, add the onion and garlic and saute over medium heat until the onions become very soft, about 8 minutes. Add the carrots and saute for 5-7 minutes. Raise heat to high and add the ground pork and ground steak. Saute, stirring frequently and breaking up any large lumps and cook until meat is no longer pink, about 10 minutes.

Add the tomatoes, parsley, basil, Worcestershire and red pepper flakes and cook over medium low heat until the sauce thickens. Season with salt and pepper. This will take approximately 1/2 hour so you can cook your pasta as well.

Finish bolognese with Parmesan (& a glass of wine!)

The end results didn't look much different than the ground beef version but the taste was far superior!