Toy Party, a huge holiday charity event in Atlanta, provides tens of thousands of Christmas gifts to underpriviledged children in the metropolitan area. Your heart warms when you walk into the venue in the AmericasMart Building and see mountains of toys that will undoubtably produce smiles on the faces of many children on Christmas morning. Each of the thousands of guests bring gifts as admission to the party.
Sunday night, we ventured out into the frigid cold to attend the event with our besties, Bruce and Felix. Toy Party always proves to be one of the best social events of the season and a great opportunity to visit with acquaintances that you haven’t seen all year. After a couple of hours of schmoozing with friends and acquaintances, we opted for a quiet dinner at home.
Anticipating a hungry crew on a cold Sunday night, I made a big pot of Bolognese sauce. Because this meat sauce is somewhat heavy, it requires a substantial pasta to serve with it and pappardelle makes the perfect companion. For my version of Bolognese, I use a combination of beef, pork, and veal.
We brought a fun Sunday night to a conclusion with a roaring fire in the fireplace, great friends, free-flowing red wine, and a huge plate of pasta. It was a good Sunday night.
Ingredients
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 slices of bacon, chopped
2 cups diced onion
2 cups diced celery
2 cups diced carrots
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound ground pork
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground veal
1 28-ounce can whole tomatoes
1 cup white wine
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2 cups milk
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 pound of pappardelle pasta
Parmagiano Reggiano cheese
Fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
Instructions
1. Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium high heat. Brown chopped bacon for 4 to 5 minutes. Add onion, celery, carrots, and garlic. Cook for 4 or 5 minutes or until onions are translucent.
2. In a separate skillet, brown meats one type at a time and add to onion mixture.
3. Add tomatoes, wine, tomato paste, milk, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 2 hours.
4. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.
5. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta according to package directions or until al dente. Drain pasta and place in a large pasta bowl or on a large platter. Top pasta with sauce and garnish with grated cheese and chopped parsley. Serve immediately.
https://southernboydishes.com/2013/12/13/pappardelle-bolognese/
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How much tomato paste is called for in this recipe?
Hi Renee, thanks for the visit to SBD. I appreciate you alerting me to the omission of tomato paste in the ingredients list. I’ve updated the recipe. Thanks again and I hope you have a great weekend!
Oh I’ve been on vacation for a couple weeks and see that I have missed a lot of great recipes! Your bolognese recipe and those pictures look quite scrumptious and have me craving a big bowl of this! Love the use of the bacon both as being an ingredient and for providing the fat for sauteing the vegetables. Beautiful post!
You had me at Pappardelle! Using 3 kinds of ground meat for the Bolognese is brilliant…cant wait to try it!
Thanks so much for dropping by, Kathi! Glad to find your blog now. I’ll be checking out what you’re cooking! Happy Holidays!
That dish looks beyond delightful!
Toy Party sounds like a fun – and worthy – event. And this dish is certainly worth having! I love pappardelle – you’ve reminded me it’s been ages since I’ve made some. It really does stand up to a hearty sauce like this one. Really nice – thanks.
Hi Bill: I am diabetic, which means I don’t count calories but carbs. I use Dreamfield’s pasta as it only contains 5 digestible cards out of the 41 listed. Ck out their website to understand how they do this. Having said that, I’ve found limited selection of Pasta types from Dreamfield’s & I really can’t eat any other brand that allows the lower carbs. Do you have any knowledge of other companies that have really good pasta, like Dreamfield’d, that diabetics can use?
The second question is whether you have a recipe section for diabetics? This is a really difficult disease to manage (It is genetic; my father had it tho he did not control his candy & card craving & died from complications at age 61) ……. And it is frustrating to find good recipes that focus on good Southern food & low carbs, allowing for the diabetic cook. Thanks!
Hi Bert. I know that’s got to be frustrating to be so limited in what you can eat. Unfortunately, I’m not much of a resource for diabetics. I wish I had a suggestion for you. I support you in taking good care of yourself and sticking with things that are healthy for you, though! Thanks so much for following my blog and I hope you have great holidays!
It takes time and patience to make a good Bolognese, but it’s worth the effort. This makes a perfect winter night’s meal. I much prefer to have a good home cooked meal at home, with a roaring fire. This sounds like a perfect night, and the dinner looks fabulous.
Thank you, Debby. I’m with you on eating a home cooked meal. Why go out when you can build a fire and make something fabulous in your own kitchen! Happy Holidays!
I love this recipe, one of my family favorites. The ragu makes a great lasagna too. Gorgeous photo too ๐
This is pure comfort food, Bill. Absolutely love it for those chilly winter nights that call for a meal that can warm you to the bone. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for dropping by, Georgia!
Your bolognese sounds fantastic and the pappardelle a fabulous accompaniment!
Oh wow – walking into America’s Mart and seeing all those gifts must have been a truly heart warming feeling!
Thank you, Shashi! I love thinking about all the smiling faces on Christmas morning!
This event sounds fabulous! I love the idea of it (somewhat similar to a Toys for Tots or Angel Tree). Isn’t that what this season is about, anyway? Well, that and great food. This pappardelle looks fantastic! Great for getting rid of the awful chill in the air. ๐