Easy pork Bolognese for nights when jars won't do
There is a time and place for jarred pasta sauces. Wednesday nights, for example.
Those nights when one kid needs to be at karate, another at band practice, and the spouse has a late meeting. Those are the nights for jarred pasta sauce. For all other nights — nights when you can spare 30 minutes to whip together something better — leave the jar in the cabinet.
Because the difference between a jarred sauce and a homemade Bolognese will make you wish you could carve out those 30 minutes more often. Plus, a pot of bubbling sauce on a cold winter night is a fine way to begin an evening at home with the family. So sit the kids at the counter to do their homework, then start cooking.
This Bolognese is mostly effortless. You can make it even more so by using the food processor to chop your vegetables.
Just toss them all in at once, then pulse until finely chopped. As for the meat, pork is delicious, but feel free to substitute beef, veal or turkey.
Ÿ J.M. Hirsch is the food editor for The Associated Press. He blogs at LunchBoxBlues.com. Email him at jhirsch@ap.org or follow him on Twitter @JM—Hirsch.