bolognese sauce

Thank you Martha Stewart for some truly tasty Bolognese Sauce....not your jar of Ragu variety.  The sauce really is pretty easy to make, it just calls for quite a bit of simmering time.  So make on a weekend or early afternoon if you can, alot about 3.5 hours.  I halved the original recipe, from Martha Stewart's Cooking School, but will post the recipe in it's entirety and just know that halving it still left us with a huge Tupperware bowl full of leftover sauce (of which I froze).

2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
3 ounces pancetta (cut into 1/4 inch pieces, about 2/3 cup) - I substituted prosciutto b/c that's what I had but really, bacon would have been a closer substitute
2/3 cup minced yellow onion
2/3 cup minced carrot
2/3 cup minced celery

1 pound ground veal
1 pound ground pork (I didn't have either and since I was halving, I used a little over a pound of ground chuck)
3 tbsp plus 1tspn tomato paste
1 cup dry white wine
1 1/4 whole milk
6-7 cups basic chicken stock (of course I cheated and used boxed chicken stock)
1 can (28oz) whole peeled tomatoes (pureed, with the juice, in a blender)
1 dried bay leaf (I didn't have one so skipped)
5 sprigs thyme, tied into a bundle with kitchen twine - (I didn't have so I just threw some dried thyme spice into the mix, not a lot though)
coarse salt and ground pepper

Heat butter and oil in a large pot over medium-high heat until butter starts to sizzle, then reduce heat to medium.  Add pancetta and cook until golden and fat has rendered, about 2.5 minutes.  Add onion, carrot, and celery and cook, stirring often, until just beginning to brown around edges, about 10 minutes.

Add veal and pork (or in my case ground beef) and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently and separating meat with the back of a wooden spoon, until no longer pink, 8 to 10 minutes.  Once meat is completely browned, pour off any excess fat.  Add tomato paste and cook 1 minute, stirring to intensify sweetness.

Pour in wine and cook, stirring to scrape up browned bits from the bottom of the pot, until liquid has evaporated, 6 to 7 minutes.  Add 1 cup milk and cook until reduced by half, about 3 minutes.  Add thyme bundle then pour 6 cups stock.  Add tomatoes and bay leaf and season with 1 1/2 tspns salt and 1/4 tsp pepper.

Bring the sauce to a boil, then reduce heat to a very low simmer and cook, partially covered, 3 to 3 1/2 hours, skimming the fat from the surface with a ladle periodically.  The finished sauce should have the consistency of loose chili.  Stir in remaining 1/4 cup milk and season with salt and pepper as desired.  If not serving immediately, let cool completely before transferring to airtight containers.  Refrigerate up to three days or freeze up to 3 months; defrosting in the fridge before using.

One last note, my sauce was slightly soupier than I wanted so next time around I will use slightly less chicken stock to hopefully make it thicker.  But even as is, it was delish!!!!