“Mom, you should make this every night”, “So good, you should win an award”. Quotes from my 5 year old son and my Sicilian grandmother while eating this incredible Homemade Pappardelle Bolognese! I totally agree, well I don’t know if I should get an award BUT this was by far one of the best pasta dishes I have ever made! The pasta is homemade; mixed, rolled and cut with no machines. The sauce simmered for hours and is so flavorful, rich and hearty. Just about everyone at the dinner table went for seconds and everyone left with a very happy belly.
Homemade pasta is absolutely a labor of love but absolutely one that is so worth the extra effort. Heres the thing, its not that its hard to make fresh by any means, however, it is a little time consuming, especially when you are cooking for 8 people. I decided to go with pappardelle for this dish; they are a long, wide, flat pasta noodle. This pasta holds up wonderfully to the hearty bolognese sauce and I love that its a little rustic {aka not perfectly sized equally} being hand cut.
Bolognese sauce is an Italian classic for, you guessed it, Bologna Italy. It is a hearty meat sauce. It is full of veggies too here; carrots, onion, celery and mushrooms along with beef, pork and veal. All simmered in crushed tomatoes for several hours. If that wasn’t enough to get the mouth watering, well, I finish the sauce of with some mascarpone cheese at the very end. It adds a little extra richness and creaminess, it really is an amazing sauce!
{Keep in mind, this is a huge batch of both the fresh pasta and sauce. The sauce freezes very well and the pasta can be cut in half if you’d like but it does make for great leftovers!}
- For the pappardelle:
- 7 cups all purpose flour
- 6 extra large eggs
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 Tbsp salt
- about 1 1/2 – 2 cups of cold water
- For the Bolognese sauce:
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 large yellow onion, small dice
- 6 garlic cloves, chopped
- 3 carrots, peeled small dice
- 3 celery stalks, small dice
- 8 oz baby bella mushrooms, small dice
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 cup red wine {good enough to drink}
- 3 cans crushed tomatoes {San Marzano are the best!}
- 1 tomato can of water
- 2 lbs meatloaf mix {beef, pork, veal}
- 6 oz mascarpone cheese
- salt & pepper
- Get a large pot heated over medium heat. Add in the olive oil, onions, garlic, carrots, celery, mushrooms and bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper lightly.
- Sweat out the vegetables, cooking until softened.
- Carefully add in the red wine and reduce by half, stirring occasionally to scrap up any tasty bits from the bottom of the pan.
- Add in the ground meatloaf mix and using a potato masher, break up the meat as it begins to cook. I prefer to add it now because the meat cooks gently and doesn’t cook as big tough chunks.
- Once the meat is broken up well, go ahead and stir in the canned tomato and water. Stir to combine well. Season with salt and pepper.
- Simmer for about 3 hours, stirring occasionally to prevent burning.
- While the sauce is simmering we can go ahead and make the pappardelle pasta noodles. Place the flour onto a large clean working surface, sprinkle with the salt and form a crater in the center.
- In a small bowl whisk together the eggs and olive oil. Add the mixture to the center crater. Begin to work the dough together, slowly adding water as you go.
- You want to knead the dough for 8-10 minutes forming a ball {yes its a workout and if you’ve never kneaded dough take a peek on youtube, there are tons of videos to guide you}. The dough should be a little shiny, elastic and smooth. It should not be crumbly {you need more water} or too wet or sticky {you need more flour}. This part takes some getting the hang of but pasta dough is very forgiving so don’t stress.
- Flatten the dough out a little bit and wrap with plastic. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
- Onto a lightly floured surface, cut the dough into thirds or fourths and flatten each piece a bit more just with your hands..
- Lightly flour the first piece and roll out until thin enough that you are able to see your hand through it. Flour and rotate the dough as you are rolling it out to ensure that the thickness is consistent.
- Using a small knife or pizza cutter, cut the pasta dough into long strands about 3/4″ wide.
- Lightly dust and gently toss the strands with flour to prevent sticking. Place onto a lightly floured surface or baking sheet.
- Continue the same process until all the pasta is cut. Be sure not to stack all the pasta on top of itself, it will get heavy and will cause the pasta to stick together.
- Cook in a big pot of boiling, salted water until al dente {fresh pasta cooks quicker the dry so keep an eye on it}. Drain.
- Just before tossing the pasta with the sauce, stir in the mascarpone cheese and stir until melted in there. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Toss enough of the sauce to coat the pasta.
Check out some of these other pasta recipe!
Homemade Butternut Squash Pasta in a Creamy Spinach Sauce
Nancy Fox
So yummy for Sunday night dinner!
Angela LeMoine
Thank you!!! It was very much enjoyed!!
mealplanmaven
My kids would go crazy over this dish Angela! So pretty and full of fantastic flavors! Well done!
Angela LeMoine
Thank you!! We loved it big time!! My 5 year old was so bummed when we ran out.
Culinary Ginger
I love making my own pasta. Pappardelle is the perfect pasta for bolognese, great dish.
Angela LeMoine
Me too! Yes, this one holds up great to this hearty sauce!
Britney Mills (@princesscowboys)
That sounds amazing! And I love the new design girl! It looks great!
Angela LeMoine
Thank you! Fresh pasta is amazing and so worth the effort. And thank you, I love the new design so so much!!!
sunandhurricane
Oh my! This looks like heaven! Homemade pasta? YUMMY!!!!!!
Angela LeMoine
A big woohooo for fresh pasta! I don’t make it often but when I do, wow! There is something special!
Meagan
Oh my goodness, this looks amazing! What a great dish for dinner. Makes me very hungry. Would love to try this out with my family.
Angela LeMoine
My family truly LOVED this!!! The complements rolled in and I happily accepted!
Natalie @ Life Made Simple
Yum! I love making fresh pasta! It’s so easy and I love how quickly it cooks! My husband would love that bolognese sauce!
Angela LeMoine
Fresh pasta is the best & the sauce turned out absolutely wonderfully!!
Mega C Cooks
This sounds really good!
Angela LeMoine
Thank you!!!! This was hugely loved by the family!!
HungryAdventurer
Yummy! This sounds great!!
xo Emily
http://www.hungryadventurer.com
Angela LeMoine
Thanks!! The pasta & the sauce were incredibly delicious!
grabaplate
How wonderful! I can almost smell it simmering! It looks amazing, and judging by your feedback, I’m sure it it!
Angela LeMoine
Thank you!!!! It turned out absolutely fantastic!
Melanie
I need to save this for my must-make list!
Angela LeMoine
Awesome! It was hugely popular with my family
naptimecreationsemily
looks great! And score for the kids liking it!! Neither of my kids liked my past last night ;o) Win some lose some ;o)
Angela LeMoine
Thanks Emily! Haha, yea we’ve had our fair share of failures for sure!
Shauna Smart
Incredible! Homemade noodles is on my bucket list!
Angela LeMoine
Shauna it’s a must try for sure! And pasta dough is not very finiky so that’s a bonus! Worth the work for sure!
Stephanie Pass
It sounds just heavenly. I love that you add mascarpone cheese. I think I need to try this. I remember 15 years ago in France of al places,lol, I had the most amazing bolognese sauce. It’s something I just love.
Angela LeMoine
Thank you so much!! It really turned out just incredible!! The mascarpone adds something special, mellows the tomato, a little creamy.. Just wonderful! Don’t know how it will stand up to France but I hope it’s close
magicalslowcooker
Such a gorgeous dish! Looks to die for!
Angela LeMoine
Thank you so much!!! We all loved it!
Debra
This looks so tasty! Yum!
Angela LeMoine
Thank you! It turned out fantastic!
Stephanie Keeping
I haven’t heard of this before but it sounds pretty good!
Angela LeMoine
Thanks Stephanie!! It’s a classic italian dish, hope you give it a try! It turned out great!!
Emily @ Love, Pasta and a Tool Belt
This looks so delicious!!!
Angela LeMoine
Thank you Emily!!
triedandtasty
Oh this looks like a great comfort food!
Angela LeMoine
It was fantastic!!!!
Jamie @ Love Bakes Good Cakes
I’m coming over to your house! 🙂 We love fresh pasta, but I don’t make it too often! My family would DEVOUR this dish!
Angela LeMoine
You’re so sweet!!! My family did devour it haha! It came out so great!
dishofdailylife
It looks delicious and when you get that kind of reaction, I’d say it’s a keeper! My family would like this one too! Pinning and sharing!
Angela LeMoine
It was so funny listening to them! It’s definitely a good thing when everyone is that happy with a meal!
Chelsea @ Gal on a Mission
Looks like a yummy and very comforting dish!
Angela LeMoine
Thank you! It certainly was loved!
Maggie @ The Love Nerds
This looks so delicious! I will definitely be giving this a try. I know my husband would really love it.
Angela LeMoine
Oh wonderful!!!! Thank you & enjoy!!!
JKC
So, so delicious! I had Tagliatelle Alla Bolognese at a favorite Italian restaurant last weekend and wanted to find a recipe like theirs, which has mascarpone cheese. I just stirred in the cheese, and it tastes just like it! I will be serving it to my family tomorrow. Thanks for sharing your wonderful recipe!
Angela LeMoine
What a wonderful compliment! I am so thrilled to hear you enjoy this recipe! It is absolutely one of our family’s favorites!
Sheri
Why the addition of mushrooms? It releases a lot of water..should I sauté the veggies until it’s evaporated?
Thanks!!
Angela LeMoine
Hi Sheri, thanks for stopping by. As stated the veggies go in first to sauté until softened. At that point a decent amount of the liquid should have cooled off. You can certainly leave it going for a little longer if you prefer. I like the extra flavor & meatiness of the mushrooms but they can be left out. I also make an Italian sausage bolognese where I do not use mushrooms.