Bolognese sauce--so easy, so good

There are a million takes on this meaty ragu that takes its name from the city of Bologna on the north eastern side of the Italian boot. I fell in love with this simple dish at a little restaurant in a tiny hamlet called LaMole in Chianti. You can find a bunch of recipes all over the internet but in my opinion the things that make a really good sauce are the use of whole milk, dry white wine, good meat and time. The sauce requires little hands-on time but will benefit greatly from a lot of time simmering on the stove.

Finely chop:
3 stalks celery
2 carrots
1 large onion
4 cloves garlic

Saute in 1/4 C extra virgin olive oil until golden--about 5 minutes. Then add:

1 lb ground pork and 1C chopped pancetta or prosciutto
(You can substitute or add ground veal or ground beef as well--all in all you want about 1.5-2lbs of meat for this recipe)

Once the meat is no longer pink, add in:
1 6oz can tomato paste
1C whole milk
1C dry white wine
1 C water

Simmer covered for about 1.5 hours. Season with coarse salt and then take the lid off. The sauce will be very saucy at this point--it is best very thick and this is achieved by simmering away most of the liquid so only the solids and the oils remain--about another 1-1.5 hours.

Best served over homemade/fresh pasta such as linguine, pappardelle or spaghetti.

A good accompaniment is a fennel apple salad (from Simple Pleasures by Alfred Portale)
Finely slice 1 Granny Smith Apple and 1 bulb fennel. Combine with a little olive oil, the zest of 1 lemon and some shavings of parmesan. Season with coarse salt. I served over arugula dressed with lemon juice and a bit of olive oil. This was a really light, sweet and nutty salad which complemeted the richness of the pasta well.