Don’t Be Afraid to Alter Family Recipes
Can a treasured family recipe – Bolognese sauce – become a low fodmap Bolognese sauce, and still taste as wonderful as the original? I think it can because I revamped my mother’s recipe and it turned out – not to brag – divine! To make it a low fodmap Bolognese sauce, I did have to eliminate the onion, garlic and ground beef/pork/veal mix that is sacrosanct to Italian recipes. I admit I thought my Italian ancestors might come back to haunt me, but so far, they haven’t lol.
Can Ground Turkey Really Replace Italian Meatball Mix?
Happily, the meat substitution didn’t make the difference I thought it would, nor did leaving out the garlic and chopped onion (a high fodmap food). While onion is a necessary ingredient in the Italian soffrito (carrot, onion, celery) ,the substitution of chopped chives and light green scallion stems was enough to retain the right onion flavoring. Making my own garlic infused olive oil kept a lovely garlic flavor, but omitted the actual garlic.
Go Easy On the Wine
My mother’s recipe called for too much wine and I think it was a typo, so I reduced the amount to 1 cup. This way the wine adds a lovely complexity of flavor to the sauce, but doesn’t overpower it. While some people (who shall be nameless) think you can never have too much wine, you actually can. So go easy when you add it. Give the other flavors a chance to shine.
She also had two cups of warm water in the recipe which puzzled me, but after looking at other authentic Bolognese recipes ( Lidia’s and Marcella’s), I saw that they kept water ready to add to the sauce, if it became too thick. I kept the water at the ready, but I only had to add 1/2 cup. Maybe ground turkey cooks differently from the beef mix. Who knows?
I also did not use the strained water from my reconstituted dried porcini mushrooms because it tasted too bitter, but feel free to add it in if you wish.
Do I Dare to Rinse GF Pasta?
Yes. Not regular pasta, but “Yes” rinse GF pasta. Be sure to rinse GF egg tagliatelle or rigatoni pasta with hot water after you drain it in a colander. I saw this tip on the internet and it worked beautifully. The hot water removes the glueyness from the GF pasta, allowing it to hold the sauce just as non-GF imported pasta does.
Just a Little Homage to my Brave Great Granny
So those are the changes; otherwise, this sauce still tastes like my granny’s, my mother’s and my own Bolognese sauce handed down from my great grandmother, Elodia Perrucci. In her hometown city of L’Aquila, Elodia led a privileged life with many servants to help with her nine children, although she always did her own family cooking, having a light hand with pasta and pastry. But in 1906, her life took a dramatic turn.
When her husband died suddenly, her eldest son, heir to the family estate, refused to give dowry money to her four youngest daughters. Without a dowry, her girls might not find husbands, so she came to America where dowries were a thing of the past.
I always think of her nerve and courage coming to America as a widow with four young daughters, when I make any of her beautiful, delicate and richly delicious recipes. Today she is buried in Brooklyn’s Greenwood cemetery and some day I hope to visit.
Low fodmap bolognese sauce lasts a few days in the fridge and it freezes well. Use it on pasta, rice or polenta.
Ingredients:
2 oz. thinly sliced prosciutto, sliced into ribbons and diced across
1 Tbsp. olive oil
3 Tbsp. butter
1/2 cup chopped light green stems of spring onions, or scallion stems or leek stems. (Not the white parts of any of those.)
1 large carrot, peeled and grated
2 inner ribs of celery hearts with leaves, diced small or grated
1 lb organic ground beef or turkey ( NOT just the breast)
1 oz of dried porcini mushrooms, soaked, drained, dried, chopped
3 cups Italian imported plum tomatoes in juice (28 0z can)
2 cups water (use as needed to thin sauce or add to sauce as needed)
1 cup red wine (use a good table wine)
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
Dash of freshly grated or ground nutmeg
1 cup of heavy cream (optional)
1 lb. GF egg tagliatelle pasta or GF rigatoni or GF penne
Directions:
Heat butter and oil in a dutch oven or stew pot. When the butter is foaming, toss in the chopped prosciutto and stir over medium high heat for a moment or two until the prosciutto browns a bit and sizzles.
Add in the chopped light green onion or scallion stems and the grated carrot and celery. Continue to sauté until the vegetables are slightly soft, a few minutes more.
With heat still on medium high, add the meat and let the meat brown on both sides and no longer pink. Then add in the mushrooms and a bit more butter if needed. Then stir in the veggies that you pushed to the side of the pan while browning the meat. If you need to add more oil or butter to help the meat brown, add it one tablespoon at a time.
Now that meat, mushrooms and veggies are all stirred together, stir in the wine, letting the wine bubble up a bit. Add in the parsley and nutmeg and cook until the wine cooks down a bit, 3 or 4 minutes.
Whirl the tomatoes in a blender until blended. Pour tomatoes into the pan and stir into the veggie/wine mixture until the mixture comes to a boil. Then turn the heat down to a simmer and simmer half covered on low for 1 hour or until the oil comes to the top of the sauce. While it is simmering check to make sure the sauce is not boiling away. Add 1/2 cup of water at a time to keep up the amount of sauce in the pan, or don’t add any if the sauce doesn’t seem to be evaporating. When the oil comes to the top, the sauce is done.
Add in the cream, stir it in and let simmer on low a few more minutes making sure the sauce is still at a simmering temperature. Then turn off the sauce and set it aside while you boil your pasta.
I used a GF pasta called egg tagliatelle. When 3 quarts of water came to a boil, I threw in a tbsp of salt and stirred in the pasta, giving it several good stirs. (Make sure the pasta stays immersed in the boiling water.) When the water came back to a boil, I cooked it for 10 minutes, and then poured it into a colander in the sink.
I rinsed the pasta with hot water to remove the glueiness that GF pasta has after cooking it. Doing the rinse made the pasta behave and taste much more like non-GF pasta. When I combined it with that wonderful bolognese sauce sprinkle with grated reggiano parmigiano cheese, the dish tasted as good as the non-low fodmap version. Yay!
Low Fodmap Bolognese Sauce
Equipment
- Dutch Oven or slow cooker
- 10" skillet
- Pasta Pot
Ingredients
- 2 oz thin prosciutto
- 1 TBS olive oil I like Fillipo Berio
- 3 TBS Butter
- 1/2 cup chopped light green scallion or green onion stems can use more for more onion flavor
- 1 large carrot, grated
- 2 ribs celery hearts with leaves, chopped small or grated
- 1 lb organic ground beef or turkey
- 1 oz dried porcini mushrooms (eating 1 tbsp is safe) soaked, drained, pat dry, chopped
- 1 28 oz can San Marzano tomatoes or Italian plum tomatoes in juice do not use crushed or tomatoes in puree or tomato puree or it will ruin the sauce.
- 2 cups water, to thin sauce if needed or to add to sauce if needed
- 1 cup red wine (use a good table wine)
- 1/4 cup Italian parsley, freshly chopped
- dash of freshly grated nutmeg
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup heavy cream (2 tbsp is low fodmap) don't use if lactose intolerant
- 1 lb tagliatelle pasta (or whatever you prefer) boiled al dente
Instructions
- Prepare veggies by chopping or grating beforehand; whirl tomatoes in a blender.
- Heat butter and oil in a dutch oven or stew pot. When the butter is foaming, toss in the chopped prosciutto and stir over medium high heat for a moment or two until the prosciutto browns a bit and sizzles.
- Add in the chopped light green onion or scallion stems and the grated carrot and celery. Continue to saute until the vegetables are slightly soft, a few minutes more.
- With heat still on medium high, add the meat and let the meat brown on both sides and no longer pink. Then add in the mushrooms and a bit more butter if needed. Then stir in the veggies that you pushed to the side of the pan while browning the meat. If you need to add more oil or butter to help the meat brown, add it one tablespoon at a time.
- Now that meat, mushrooms and veggies are all stirred together, stir in the wine, letting the wine bubble up a bit. Add in the parsley, salt and pepper, and nutmeg and cook until the wine cooks down a bit, 3 or 4 minutes.
- Whirl the tomatoes in a blender until blended. Pour tomatoes into the pan and stir into the veggie/wine mixture until the mixture comes to a boil. Then turn the heat down to a simmer and simmer half covered on low for 1 hour or until the oil comes to the top of the sauce. While it is simmering check to make sure the sauce is not boiling away. Add 1/2 cup of water at a time to keep up the amount of sauce in the pan, or don't add any if the sauce doesn't seem to be evaporating. When the oil comes to the top, the sauce is done.
- Add in the cream, stir it in and let simmer on low a few more minutes making sure the sauce is still at a simmering temperature.Then turn off the sauce and set it aside while you boil your pasta.
- I used a GF pasta called egg tagliatelle. When 3 quarts of water came to a boil, I threw in a tbsp of salt and stirred in the pasta, giving it several good stirs. (Make sure the pasta stays immersed in the boiling water.) When the water came back to a boil, I cooked it for 10 minutes, and then poured it into a colander in the sink.I rinsed the pasta with hot water to remove the glueiness that GF pasta has after cooking it. Doing the rinse made the pasta behave and taste much more like non-GF pasta. When I combined it with that wonderful bolognese sauce sprinkle with grated reggiano parmigiano cheese, the dish tasted as good as the non-low fodmap version. Yay!
