As this is now my third version (Versions 1 and 2 are available HERE and HERE) of what might as well be a series on Bolognese, it should be clear that I love a good pasta sauce. I mean really whats not to love about a flavorful bolognese and pasta when you want an easy, low fuss dinner. As a result, I have made many varieties over the years to suite almost any situations. This particular version was born out of a desire to use ingredients we had on hand from a variety of store runs before they went bad. So we had a bunch of ground meats, some stuffed…
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InstantPot Tri-Tip Ragu
It feels like work for both Rob and I has been keeping us pretty busy since we got back from vacation. As a result, I have been looking for simple recipes to make when we get home. We have made a lot of our go-tos and remade a few others that we haven’t made in a while. But the other night, we tried something new that was inspired by our trip to California: Instant Pot Tri-Tip Ragu. Tri-tip is effectively the official cut of meat for California that is rare on the east coast. Its a cut out of the bottom sirloin of the cow, which means its pretty lean…
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Summer Bolognese 2.0
One of the few downsides to summer is that cooking hearty meals isn’t usually something you want. When its hot and gross out, do you really want a heavy meat dish? So, I have been continuing to experiment with making bolognese a good summer meal. I really wanted to make something like the Rabbit Bolognese (yes, Rob made a pasta sauce with a rabbit sausage) we made back in April; however, just a little lighter. To really get that lighter flavor, I started with the veggies base. This time around I went with leek. If you aren’t familiar with leek, think really big green onion. It’s got a great light…
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Summery Chicken Bolognese
Now that it basically feels like summer here in DC, its seemed like the right time to look at lightening up some of my favorite recipes. A prime target is one of my favorite pasta sauces: bolognese. When you think of bolognese typically a heavy, hearty meat sauce comes to mind, so I wanted to go after that. So, I started with the meat selection. Normally, I go for pork, beef, or lamb which all tend to be a bit heavier. This time I went with chicken; chicken sausage to be specific. I like cooking with sausage since it helps give a good base flavor to the sauce since its…
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Lamb-Wild Mushroom Ragu
The fact that Rob was super excited about this Lamb-Wild Mushroom Ragu is really shocking. He HATES mushrooms more than any other food and he was a big player in creating this recipe and suggested the mushrooms. Ultimately, this recipe was the perfect winter date night in. It’s absolutely packed with flavor and pairs perfectly with a nice glass of red wine! The key to this recipe is the use of dried WILD mushrooms. I used a combination of Morel, Chantarelle, and Porcini mushrooms. These dried mushrooms have a woody, earthy scent and flavor that compliments lamb and tomato flavors. I also added a some red wine to the liquid…
