Baking your Bolognese in a Dutch oven results in a deeply savoury, caramelised sauce that is superior to Bolognese made on the stovetop. Oh, and adding cheese never hurts.
Time: 4/5
Kept me in the house all afternoon, but it’s mostly passive so I’m not complaining
Effort: 3/5
Not that hard once everything is set up, but there is a bit of cleaning to do.
Tomatoes, Time, and Love
Very early on in the blog, I wrote about how I learned to make Ragu Bolognese from a couple from Bologna. It doesn’t get any more authentic than that! And later, I put my own twist on it by serving Bolognese with rice as a low effort, high yield meal prep.
Both of those times, I made Bolognese on the stovetop. Which is the way it’s been made for centuries. But every now and then, I get curious about what would happen if I braised the sauce in the oven like you would a pot roast.
After all, you can’t spend any significant time on the cooking internet and not come across the hype for cast iron – or at least I can’t, and I’ve joined the party wholeheartedly. But a skillet and a bona fide Dutch oven are two entirely different things, so it was like there was still an itch I couldn’t scratch.
Except now I can, and I’m so happy. We got a beautiful 22 inch Staub Dutch oven, and Bolognese is the very first thing I made with it. It’s superior to making Bolognese on the stovetop because of how the sides and the top of the sauce gets browned. And you all know that browning means flavour.
Even better, the Dutch oven does double duty as an infinitely reusable baking tray. I took full advantage of this by creating this cheesy Bolognese pasta bake right after I was finished with the sauce. Hey, the Dutch oven is already dirty, so might as well make full use of it!
There are some cons to go with the pros, though. Cast iron cookware takes a bit of maintenance (even though my piece is enamelled, and takes less work), although it isn’t too big of a deal to wipe it down with a thin coat of oil before putting it away. It’s also heavier than other types of cookware, but I go to the gym to make life easier and it isn’t too much of an issue for me.
The main downside for me is that I can’t chuck the Dutch oven into the dishwasher like I can with the stainless steel pan. But that’s a small price to pay for a deeply flavourful and savoury meat sauce. I’m very happy with the results, and I look forward to having many more culinary adventures with the newest addition to my kitchen.
Posts since the last recipe that was actually served with rice: 3
Dramatis Personae
Served 7.
- 500g ground beef, 85% lean
- 600g ground pork
- Half a medium onion
- One small carrot
- 800g canned peeled tomatoes
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tbsps Better than Bouillon beef stock paste
- 500g fusilli, or pasta of choice
- 2 bay leaves
- 100g shredded mature Cheddar
- 100g shredded Parmesan
- Salt and pepper to taste
Note: Halve the ingredients if you want all of the pasta to fit in a 22 inch Dutch oven in one go. I ended up having to bake in two batches.
Executive summary
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Dice the carrot and onion.
- Brown the beef and pork in the Dutch oven, working in batches. Reserve the meat. Saute the vegetables and the tomato paste in the same pot.
- Add meat back into the pot, along with the canned tomatoes, bay leaves, and Better than Bouillon.
- Bring the pot to a simmer, cover with the lid, and bake in the oven for 2 to 3 hours.
- Just before the sauce is done, cook pasta according to package instru and drain well. Measure out the cheese.
- Mix the pasta and half of the cheese into the sauce. Top with the rest of the cheese, and bake uncovered for 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and slightly browned.
- Allow to cool slightly before plating, garnishing and serving.
Play by Play
Beginning with the meat sauce, which takes the longest. I’m cutting up all the vegetables at first so I don’t need to stress about it later.
Being a good boy, and browning my meat in batches. Even so, 500g seems like a bit much in a 22 inch Dutch oven.
All of the sauce ingredients go in at this point. Bring it to a simmer, which might take a while.
Nighty-night, see you later! Time to catch up on laundry and dishes.
The sauce has been going for about 2 hours now, so let’s get started on the pasta. Nothing fancy, just cooked to package instructions.
Onward to the vegetables. Some more carrots, the half of the onion that I didn’t use for the sauce, and a whole bunch of Napa cabbage.
The pan is free once I get the pasta out. Carrots and garlic get a head start, then I go through the same old dance of adding what seems like too much vegetables and letting it cook down until it fits.
Weighing out the cheese and mixing it up, so I can just sprinkle and go when the sauce is ready and I can assemble the casserole. Except …
Herp derp, no way the pasta is gonna fit in there. Gotta think on my feet.
No worries, the pan is dirty anyway so I might as well do the mixing there. The first batch goes into the oven first, and I can use the Dutch oven to bake the second batch while we eat the first.
Came out looking beautiful all the same.
Plate up and dig in!
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