Lean ragu bolognese

I like to buy the 95% lean grass fed ground beef from whole food and make this lean version of ragu Bolognese. This dish tastes best if you allow it to simmer for long time. I use my enamel cast iron pot for this dish and let it simmer in low heat for 3 hours. I think clock pot may work as well. Once it is done if you don't finish it you can store it and when you need a quick meal you can mix it in with some freshly made pasta and you will have fast slow food. It is such a easy recipe I make it almost every week!

In Italy they use 1/3 beef with 1/3 pork and 1/3 veal. The slow cooking brings out the sweetness in the meat but of course it is a bit more calories. With my modified version you can indulge guilt free this delicious comfort food. It's only 330 calories!

1)  mix 1 cup of chopped carrot, 1 cup of chopped celary, 1 cup of chop onions and 5 cloves of chopped garlic into a heavy pan. (If you have lecuset this is the time to use it. Chop the veggies in chunks. Not too small otherwise they will disintegrate after the long simmer and you won't get the nice veggie bite

2) add about 1 - 2 tablespoons of olive oil and a pinch of salt then turn high heat. You can cover it, turn occasionally until the veggy browns a bit and the onions are soft and translucent.

3) add 1 lb of ground beef and cook the meat until no longer pink. You can add black pepper at this point and just a bit more salt.

4) after the beef is cooked add 1 cup of milk and cook it down until the liquid is completely absorbed or avapored.  This is supposed to reduce the acidity of the wine and tomatoe which will be added later

5) add 1 cup of dry white wine and in the same way cook it until it is reduced stirring constantly

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6) add a small can of chopped tomatoes. In this case I use half of a larger jar which was left over from  2 days ago when Myrna made those puertorican pinto beans. I also add some tomatoe paste that we had already opened. Rince the jar with water and add all that juice into the meat sauce

7) add a bay leave and bring the pot to a boil then turn it to the lowest setting and cover. You can just leave it simmer for the next 3 hours, checking it every hour or so and stir it a bit.

This will make 5 cups of ragu. To serve cook your favorite pasta according the packaging the put 2 oz of pasta with 1/2 cup of sauce then grate 1 tablespoon of parmigiana or Romano cheese and a splash of fresh chopped Italian parsley.