Crockpot Bolognese Sauce

There's nothing like homemade bolognese sauce. A traditional Italian meat sauce which derives its rich flavor from several rounds of wine and milk simmered into the ground meat and tomatoes. Problem is, my original recipe literally took me 3 hours, a lot of that monitering the stove, as I added each round of wine and milk, and waited for them to simmer down. Yes it's a delicious, hearty meal, but not at all worth that amount of my time.

Enter my new America's Test Kitchen Slow Cooker Revolution magazine.  I can now make enough of this luscious sauce to top three whole pounds of pasta, with my crockpot doing most of the work!  We purchased a quarter cow not too long ago, and have plenty of ground beef to go around, so two portions of this sauce are going in the freezer and providing a quick and satisfying weeknight meal in the future.

Looking at the ingredients, this sauce is hardly on the light side. However, did you know a one pound box of pasta contains 8 servings?  I'm just as guilty of piling it on, but with this sauce, a proper size serving of pasta is more than enough.  And it's winter, so a stick to your ribs kind of meal is perfectly acceptable about 20% of the time. Enjoy!

Crockpot Bolognese Sauce
3 T. unsalted butter
1 onion, minced
1 carrot, peeled and minced
1/4 c. minced celery
1/4 c. tomato paste
1/4 t. dried thyme
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 c. dry white wine
2 (28 oz) + 1 (14 oz.) cans crushed tomatoes
3 slices high-quality white sandwhich bread (I use Pepperidge Farm Country White -- freeze the rest of loaf for another use)
1 c. cream
3 pounds ground beef (85% lean)

Melt butter in 12-inch skillet over medium high heat.  Add onion, carrot, celery, tomato paste, and thyme.  Cook until veggies are softened and lightly browned, about 8-10 minutes.  Stir in garlic with one minute to go and cook until fragrant.  Stir in wine and transfer entire mixture to slow cooker.  Stir crushed tomatoes into slow cooker.

Mash bread and cream into paste with a fork.  Mix in ground beef, 1/2 t. salt and 1/2 t. pepper using your hands.  Stir beef mixture into slow cooker, breaking up any large pieces.  Cover and cook on LOW, 9-11 hours.

For about the last 20 minutes, I took the lid off and let the sauce continue to cook.  This brought the fat to the top and I was able to skim it off before stirring the sauce.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Let cool to room temperature and store portions in freezer in air tight containers until ready to use.