Iron Packed Bolognese Sauce

There are few things better than a nice hearty bowl of pasta full of all the farm’s bounty. This bolognese sauce is exactly that.

Sometimes a big bowl of pasta can be perceived as a guilty pleasure food. But all of these goodies make it a bowl full of nutrition; especially the liver!

Which typically gets a bad wrap in our western culture. But I argue that our pallets have just become dead to the rich flavor of liver. Our ancestors craved it in fact when certain minerals and nutrients were depleted from their bodies. All over the world this is still a staple. But the CAFO system in America is more about efficiency than nutrition. So much of an animals health can be determined by dissecting their liver.

Is the liver fatty? The animal probably had an unhealthy (or unnatural) diet.

Is the liver pale? This could mean the animal had improper nutrition, lack of living plant matter in their diet, or disease.

Does the liver have white spots? This most commonly is associated with disease or a precurser for an illness the animal is fighting on a low level.

Does the liver have holes? Parasites will burrow tunnels in the liver. Some level of parasites is normal (even in humans). But a significant amount indicates unhealthy animals and living conditions where they were housed without enough room for the feces to be somewhere other than where they eat.

I love having the knowledge to assess the health and quality of what we eat. It makes a conscious consumer who is in control of, and has the tools to better their own health.

Okay, now back to the bolognese, which is a very common dish throughout Europe.

Bolognese Sauce Recipe

1 onion, chopped

1 stalk celery, chopped

1 carrot finely chopped

2 medium tomatoes coarsely chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons Olive oil

1 pound ground beef

1/2 pound ground liver

Fine ground Sea salt

1 cup white wine

1 small can tomato paste

1 bay leaf

small amount fresh grated nutmeg

1 cup milk

2 cups broth

1/2 cup fresh grated parmesan

1. Add oil to skillet and vegetables (except tomatoes and garlic). Saute veggies until soft 5ish minutes. Transfer to a bowl.

2. Combine ground beef and ground liver in skillet and cook on medium/low heat until just browned (some pink is ok). Crumbling into small pieces as it cooks. And season liberally with sea salt.

3. Reduce heat to low and add wine. Reduce wine until all liquid is evaporated. Continuing to crumble meat as it cooks. No large pieces should remain.

4. Add vegetables, bay leaf, nutmeg, chopped tomatoes, and tomato paste and stir constantly until tomato paste begins to brown.

5. Add broth, milk, garlic, and more salt. Stir well.

6. Put heat on lowest setting and simmer for up to 3 hours uncovered. No less than 45 minutes here. Until the sauce begins to thicken. Ideally it should be a very thick sauce but sometimes the stomach just can’t wait that long.

7. Cook pasta of choice (in broth if you have it) and add pasta to sauce with parmesan and stir.

8. Top with additional parmesan and enjoy!