Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all. – Harriet Van Horne
Today was the day. All ingredients sourced, enough time cleared, and the kitchen ready for a five-hour labour of love.
The recipe is Lidia’s – Lidia Bastianich’s Traditional Bolognese – and it is a commitment: two hours of active cooking, then three hours of adding stock and reducing. One more essential ingredient: Radio Garden, tuned to Bologna, Italy. I cycled through a few stations before landing on the right one, an Italian station playing American pop was not going to cut it. The occasion called for Italian music, and Italian music it was.
There is a moment in the recipe where Lidia describes the meat appearing “suspended” in the sauce. The first time you see it, it stops you. That’s the moment you know it’s right.
I’d been unsatisfied with my old meat sauce for years – simpler, faster, and honestly not in the same universe. Finding Lidia’s recipe changed that entirely.
Once it’s done, the Soupers are the secret weapon. Silicone freezing trays that turn the sauce into perfect 2-cup and 1-cup blocks. One cup is exactly a single serving. Frozen, they slip neatly into labelled freezer bags – date on the outside – and we have beautiful Bolognese whenever we want it. It’s also become a favourite dinner to bring to Bill & Wilma.
Grateful for Lidia’s recipe, for Radio Garden making the kitchen feel like Bologna for a few hours, and for the Soupers that keep every batch of sauce perfectly.
