We are now in the early days of what I call “Dutch oven weather.” Temperatures in New York have dipped down into the fifties, and I am routinely firing up my Le Creuset for all manner of soups, sauces, and braises. Tomato sandwich? I don’t know her. The ideal Sunday afternoon is now spent gently prodding at a simmering pot, an activity that could easily stretch into a languid four or five hours.
However, let’s be real for a moment and acknowledge that we can’t always live within the celluloid confines of Barefoot Contessa B-roll. While I’d love for every crisp fall weekend to feature a slow-cooked pot of brisket, it’s not always in the cards. More critically: why can’t we enjoy a hearty meat sauce on the weekdays, too?
Of course, you could braise all day on Sunday and enjoy leftovers throughout the week. But lately I’ve been gravitating toward simple, economical riffs on Bolognese sauce that can be made (somewhat) on the fly. While they’re not lightning-fast dishes — they’ll take about an hour, as opposed to the standard three or four — these two Bolognese recipes are straightforward enough to cook on a weeknight, but are as delicious as any fussed-over afternoon’s worth of simmering.
Both of them feature beef, although you could use pork, or a mix of the two. (Sorry, purists — I can’t bring myself to buy ground veal.) The first is a particularly light Bolognese with cherry tomatoes that are carefully peeled and blitzed into a bright purée, then quickly cooked with ground beef and sage. I originally made this with sungold tomatoes at their September peak; since those are out of season now, you can easily swap them for grocery store cherry tomatoes.
The second recipe is a Bolo-ified take on, yes, the mercilessly ubiquitous spicy rigatoni from Carbone. It’s a slightly more conventional meat sauce, with the exception of a hefty dose of Calabrian chilis and a cup of cream (instead of the traditional milk). If vodka sauce and Bolognese had a particularly spicy baby, this would be it.
Cherry Tomato & Sage Bolognese
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