Step 1: Saute onions in olive oil until translucent.
Step 2: Add garlic and saute for 1 minute. Add the remaining ingredients and cook for 15 minutes. You can substitute 1 can whole tomatoes, roughly chopped in a food processor, plus 1/4 cup of tomato paste for the 1 can of tomato sauce.
Step 1: Take the ground sirloin out of the fridge and lay it on a tray. Let it come to room temperature, so that it will sear rather than steam when it goes into the pan.
Step 2: Season the meat with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a wide-bottomed saucepan, add meat to the pan, making sure that the meat is covering the base of the pan.
Step 3: Leave for about 5 to 6 minutes, so that the meat sears underneath and heats through completely before you start stirring (otherwise it will ooze protein and liquid and it will steam rather than sear). Stir meat every 4 minutes for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Strain meat through a colander to remove fat. Set aside.
Step 4: Add the vegetables and minced garlic to wide-bottomed saucepan, and sweat over high heat for 5 to 8 minutes without allowing it to color (you will need to keep stirring).
Step 5: Add meat to vegetables. Stir the meat and vegetables every 4 minutes for about 10 to 12 minutes, until the meat starts to stick to the bottom of the pan. At this point, the meat is ready to take the wine.
Step 6: Add the wine and let it reduce to virtually nothing, then add tomato paste and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring the entire time.
Step 7: Add the crushed whole tomatoes with 2 cups of water. Bring to boil, then turn down to simmer and cook for about 2 hours, adding water, if necessary from time to time, until you have a thick sauce. Add basil.
Step 8: When you are ready to serve the bolognese sauce, cook your pasta (preferably tagliatelle, pappardelle, gnocchi, or a short pasta) and drain, reserving the cooking water. Add the bolognese sauce to the pasta and toss well, adding some of the cooking water, if necessary to loosen the sauce. Serve with freshly grated Reggiano parmesan cheese.
Makes about 3/4 cup
Step 1: In a heavy saucepan simmer sugar, water, corn syrup, and a pinch salt, stirring, until sugar is dissolved.
Step 2: Boil mixture, without stirring, until a golden caramel. This may take up to 15 minutes (depending how hot your burners are).
Step 3: When the mixture is a golden caramel color, remove pan from heat and add cream and vanilla, stirring until combined well, about 1 minute.
Step 4: Cool sauce to room temperature (sauce will thicken as it cools). Sauce keeps, covered and chilled, 3 weeks. Bring sauce to room temperature before serving.
Step 4: To make the hollandaise: Break up eggs with a teaspoon of warm water.
Adapted from Mario Batali, The Babbo Cookbook
Step 1: Follow the recipe for simple red sauce.
Step 2: Before ready to serve, add heavy cream to sauce; simmer until cream thickens slightly, 2 to 3 minutes longer.
Step 3: Stir in basil and salt to taste. Remove from heat; cover to keep warm.
I really like venison and I used to make this recipe all the time. For reasons unknown to me, my father, who used to give me an unendless supply of venison, stopped supplying it. For the past 5 years, I've been asking him for some every time he comes to visit and every time I go to visit him in West Virginia. He would tell me the same thing each time - he didn't have any. So I decided to take matters in my own hands. Since I used to get it for free and deer are plentiful, I figured that I could just buy it fairly cheap. So I went to my favorite grocery store, Wegmans, a store that has everything, to attempt to purchase it. Well, while Wegmans had some in stock, the cost was incredible. There was no way I was paying $24.00 for an 8 ounce tenderloin, not when I used to get it for free. All I can say is if this is the going rate, I can totally understand why it has been scarce these last few years. So much for taking matters in my own hands.