Quick, Easy & Delicious Bolognese (from Ina of course!)

. .Photo courtesy of Mama Makes it Best

I've not been able to eat beef since I was pregnant with my son. It wasn't by choice. I just lost the taste for it. I thought the desire would return but he's 15 months old now and I can still barely eat it. Well my friend Amy brought me some ground beef from a cow her brother raised on his land in Bellingham. She knew I was on a beef strike but wanted me to try it because of the quality of the meat and because she's obsessed with Ina's recipe for Weeknight Bolognese from her new cookbook How Easy is That?. Amy brought me a little holiday bag with the recipe, the meat, San Marzano tomatoes and organic whole wheat shells. How cute is that for a holiday gift bag?

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I gave it a shot last night and wow, this recipe was easy and delicious. The meat seemed so fresh and I gobbled it up with no problem. I had two servings last night and a bowl for "lunch" today at 9:30am. I couldn't wait any longer to have more. I've never used whole wheat pasta but you couldn't even tell in this recipe. I loved how the shells captured sauce and little pieces of meat. This recipe was fantastic. Now, how do I get my hands on more of that beef??????

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If you don't have the cookbook you can get the recipe courtesy of Mama Makes it Best blog.

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I hear of more and more people buying a whole cow these days and raving about the quality. Here's what Amy has to say:

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"My brother gets two cows every spring and just lets them graze in his pasture (they have a barn and horses, too). They are just grass-fed and treated really well. My nephew names them every year... I think their names were "Meatloaf" and "Sloppy Joe" this year. They are slaughtered every October and then the meat hangs at the meat company for a couple of weeks. I call the meat company and tell them how I want my 1/4 prepared. I only take to best parts of the meat and have most of it made into "hamburger." It's the only ground beef I eat. It doesn't have any gross parts in it and is basically just ground New York steak. I like how crumbly it gets. It also makes great taco meat."

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