Every few months, I’ve been making a big pot of bolognese sauce. It freezes really well, and I put it in little single serving containers that my wife takes to eat at work. It does take a very long while to cook — on the order of 6 or 7 hours, total, but it doesn’t really need to be attended to all that much. One of the keys is to use some sort of heat tempering device. Without one, even my heavy Le Cruset dutch oven will get hotspots and the sauce will burn onto the bottom. What I do, just before I add the tomatoes is to put the whole pot into my biggest cast iron frying pan. This will temper the hot spots and transfer the heat more evenly to the bottom of my cooking pan. I’ve never had my sauce burn, even with the long, unattended simmering this recipe calls for.

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The adage among those of us not fortunate to be of Italian heritage is “never cook Italian for Italians.” Since no one in our family is actually Italian, however, we are free to experiment. The best way to experiment is to visit a top quality Italian grocery store such as Sunseri Brothers in Pittsburgh PA; Milano’s in Danbury CT; Manganaro’s Market in New York, Philadelphia’s 9th Street Italian Market, etc. We’re talking the kind of store with crates of salt cod, open barrels of olives, cheeses cut to order, fresh bread, different kinds of olive oil, incredible cappocolo and other meats, and cannoli. Just the smell in such a grocery store is heaven. Even we non-Italians cannot go (too far) wrong if we start with excellent Italian ingredients.

At the Italian grocery, buy the authentic stuff you cannot find at your local grocery: garlic sausage, fresh mozzarella cheese, imported Parmesan (they can grind it for you or you can bring home a big block and grate it yourself), fresh pasta sheets (unless you are adventurous with your own pasta maker or rolling pin), olive oil, and crusty bread. Fresh mozzarella cheese isn’t anything like the packaged stuff you buy in the regular grocery store. It is whiter than white and has a very mild flavor and an indescribable texture. Buy an extra pound of the stuff, or by the time you get home you might not have enough for your recipe. Fresh pasta sounds like a lot of trouble, but it’s fairly easy to make and the texture is radically different from anything that comes out of a box. Fresh baked Italian bread is as good as it gets.

We bought the Italian ingredients to make this at the Connecticut house, but didn’t get the chance because of the impending snow. So we put everything in a cooler and brought it down to Virginia, where we made it on New Year’s Day.

Italian Meat Sauce For Non-Italians

Remove sausage from casing and brown with onions and lots of fresh garlic. Add whole fresh or canned plum tomatoes and cook uncovered for at least three hours over low heat (just one bubble ever minute or so). Season to taste (always taste) with more spices than you think you need. Seasoning can include salt, pepper, parsley (fresh or dried), bay leaves, thyme, basil and oregano.

Italian Lasagna For Non-Italians

Blanche pasta sheets in salted water. Put down a layer of pasta, then a layer of sauce, then a layer of Ricotta cheese mixed with fresh mozzarella and Parmesan. Repeat. Finish with cheese and extra Parmesan. Bake in medium oven until bubbly. Remove from oven and let cool enough so it does not fall apart when you attempt to serve.

Italian Stuffed Shells For Non-Italians

Roll cut pieces of blanched fresh pasta around cheese mixture (Ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan, parsley, eggs, salt, white pepper). Cover with ample sauce. Put a layer Parmesan and mozzarella on top. Bake in medium oven until bubbly.