Risotto Bolognese is made with a deeply flavored meat sauce that's slow cooked for maximum flavor. The chewy rice absorbs all that goodness for a beautifully textured bowl full of cozy comfort.
As I write this, sideways sleet is blowing past my window, and the temperatures have been hovering barely above freezing for days. I have absolutely no desire to go outside. Instead, all I want to do is get under a blanket, put on some jazzy holiday music, and eat something seriously delicious out of a big bowl that warms my hands.
This season of darkness is the perfect time for you to spend all day in the kitchen letting flavors develop slowly over time. It's the perfect time to stand over a pot, daydreaming and stirring in beautiful intentions. It's the perfect time to make a cauldronful of something delicious that will either feed a crowd or last you for days. Don't go outside. Stay in and cook.
What makes Risotto Bolognese so awesome?
I love this Risotto Bolognese because it's so hearty and flavorful. The rice makes this dish dense in a way that I really enjoy. I somehow find the chewiness irresistible. It's cooked with beef stock in a slowly simmer tomato and ground beef sauce that's made from scratch. Flavors are built and layered with care over hours, and you can tell when you bite into it.
It's the perfect dinner after a lazy Sunday afternoon when it's too cold to go outside. It will warm you from the inside and fill both your belly and your spirit. This recipe makes enough for four generous portions, but you could easily stretch it to six if you serve it after a salad and alongside some bread. It's just the two of us here, though, so I love having this leftover the next day.
Magical Properties of Rice
Rice has been a staple grain in various cultures for centuries, so it has some pretty cool magical properties. It's a symbol of fertility and abundance, which is why it was thrown over the bride and groom as they leave their wedding. This grain's abundance and small size also makes it an ideal tool for thwarting malevolent spirits. It's been said that if you scatter grains of rice in front of your home, the spirits will become obsessed with counting them and be distracted from disturbing you. You can also leave a bowl of rice out in your home to absorb negative energy.
For more on the magical properties of the ingredients in this recipe, check out the Kitchen Magick page.
Ingredients
Here's everything you'll need to make this dish. The full details are in the recipe card below. It's a long list, but that's part of the fun.
- Onion
- Carrot
- Celery
- Garlic
- Parsley
- Bacon
- Butter
- Olive oil
- Ground beef - I go with something on the lean side for this dish
- Marsala - or red wine
- Canned chopped tomatoes
- Tomato paste
- Milk
- Beef stock - I use stock cubes
- Bay leaves
- Risotto rice
- Parmesan cheese
- Salt and pepper
Tips for making Risotto Bolognese
This is not a quick after work recipe. We're making a meat sauce from scratch and letting it slow cook in the oven for an hour. This is a cooking project, so don't make it when you're stressed. Make it when you're ready to have some fun in the kitchen.
We are getting some help from the food processor, though, to chop our aromatic vegetables into tiny bits. If you want a smoother tomato sauce, you can also use it to break down your chopped tomatoes even further.
When making your risotto, the key is to keep stirring. I use stock cubes to make my stock, so I don't keep my stock simmering in a pot as it's just been boiled. If you're using stock from a box or can, you'll want to keep it warm so you don't keep changing the temperature as you cook your rice. Stirring makes your risotto creamy by releasing starches, so don't try to get lazy and skip it. Have plenty of stock on hand, and keep adding it until the rice is cooked through.
Store your leftovers in an air tight container in the fridge. When reheating, you may want to add a bit of stock or water to loosen up the mixture. I just microwave it for a few minutes, pausing to stir a couple of times.
This Risotto Bolognese is such a delicious weekend project, you might never want to leave your house on a Sunday ever again. I know you'll think it's awesome.
Looking for more awesome risotto recipes? Try this sunny Lemon Risotto or some delicious Cheddar Cheese Risotto.
PrintRisotto Bolognese
Risotto Bolognese is made with a deeply flavored meat sauce that's slow cooked for maximum flavor. The chewy rice absorbs all that goodness for a beautifully textured bowl full of cozy comfort.
- Prep Time: 40
- Cook Time: 60
- Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
- 1 onion, peeled and quartered
- 1 carrot, peeled and cut into large chunks
- 1 stick celery, cut into large chunks
- 1 small garlic clove, peeled
- small handful of fresh parsley
- 75 grams bacon
- 50 grams plus 1 tablespoon butter
- ½ teaspoon olive oil
- 250 grams ground beef
- 80 ml marsala
- 1 can chopped tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon tomato puree
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 to 2 liters beef stock, divided
- 2 bay leaves
- 500 grams risotto rice
- 6 tablespoons grated parmesan
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300F/150C and dig out a big oven proof pot.
- Add your onion, carrot, celery, garlic, parsley and bacon to your food processor. Blitz away until you have a colorful mush. Don't put your processor away yet. We're using it again in a minute.
- In your large pot, heat the butter and olive oil. Add your veggie/bacon mush to the pot, and cook for about five minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the ground beef and break it up with your wooden spoon. Allow it to brown, then add in the red wine.
- Tip your can of chopped tomatoes into your food processor and crank it up until smooth. It will only take a couple seconds. Add to the pot and give it a stir.
- In a small dish, stir together the milk and tomato puree. Add that to your pot along with 500 ml of your beef stock and your bay leaves. Give it all a good mix.
- Bring this to a boil and then clamp the lid on your pot. Transfer it to the oven, and allow it to bubble away happily for an hour.
- Once your meat sauce is out of the oven, put it back on the stove over low heat, and fish out the bay leaves. Add your remaining stock to a sauce pan and bring it to a simmer. Make sure the rest of your ingredients are ready because you're about to enter deep stirring reverie.
- Add your rice to your meat sauce and start your stirring. Depending on how much liquid is already in your sauce, you may need to add a ladleful of stock at this time.
- Continue to stir your rice for about 18-20 minutes, add another ladle of stock every time the liquid becomes absorbed. I never need all the stock, but if you need it and don't have it ready, you're screwed. Give your rice a taste to check it's cooked through.
- When it's ready, turn the heat off and stir in a tablespoon of butter and your parmesan cheese. Taste it to see if you want to add any salt and pepper.
- Serve hot with an extra sprinkle of parmesan.
Recipe slightly adapted from Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home by Nigella Lawson.
Follow me on Pinterest for more awesome winter recipes.
Leave a Reply