Elf Sternberg

Instant Pot Bolognese Sauce

Makes 8 servings. Cooking time: About an hour.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground beef


• 1/4 pound prosciutto cubetti (cubed chunks of pork belly, sometimes sold at the deli in larger groceries. You can use thick-sliced bacon, cut into cubes, instead)


• 2 celery stalks


• 2 medium onions


• 2 carrots


• 4 cloves of garlic (or more)


• 1/2 cup red wine


• 1 1/2 cups beef stock


• 1 can diced tomatoes


• 3/4 cup milk


• 3 tbsp full fat sour cream (optional – see note)


• 1/2 tbsp vegemite (optional – use salt to taste otherwise)


• 1 tsp dried oregano


• salt, pepper, ajinomoto (optional), shichimi togarashi (optional)


• cooking fat or oils

Gear:

• Pressure cooker


• Food processor


• Knives & cutting board


• Measuring cups and spoons

Steps:

1. Peel as necessary and cut the onions, carrots, celery, and garlic into chunks. Put into the food processor and pulse until the vegetables are in very small pieces, but not liquefied.
   


2. Start the Instant Pot on saute’ mode. When it’s hot enough, put in your cooking oil. I recommend bacon fat but if you don’t cook much with bacon or don’t save the grease, olive oil is just fine. Add the vegetables and saute until they’re cooked all the way through, ten to fifteen minutes. Stir regularly, and if it starts to burn, add a splash of water to make a layer of steam between the vegetables and the heat, but cooking all the sulfur out of onions and converting the starches into sugars takes more most people are willing to wait.
   


3. Add in all the meat, breaking up the ground beef with a wooden spoon, and cook until all the meat is browned.
   


4. Turn off the pressure cooker. Add the wine and use the alcohol in the wine to scrape any bits off the bottom of the pot. This will both deglaze the pan, getting tasty bits into your food, and will reduce the risk of hotspots on your pot bottom triggering the pressure cooker’s “food is burning” alert. This should take no more than a minute.
   


5. Add the beef stock, tomatoes, oregano and vegemite. Add salt, pepper, and ajinomoto to taste. I like to use shichimi togarashi, a kind of Japanese pepper blend, but plain old black pepper works just fine. The vegemite is both salty and adds a huge flavor bomb of savoriness to the dish. Stir all ingredients until well-mixed.
   


6. Close up the pressure cooker and set it to Pressure, 25 minutes. Note: If you’re prepping a standard spaghetti dinner, now is a good time to start cooking your pasta! While you’re at it, wash the food processor.
   


7. When the timer goes off, release the pressure. Set the pressure cooker to Slow Cook with the lid off. Taste it and adjust the salt and pepper to your liking. Add the milk and, if you’re using it, sour cream. If you’re not, add a little more milk. Let simmer for 20 minutes and serve with fresh shredded Parmesan cheese and a good, crusty bread!
   

Will keep in the ’fridge for about a week. Can be frozen for up to three months, but it rarely survives that long in my household.