"bolognese" news and stories

Bolognese sauce is practically defined by the meat (ground pork and veal, and sometimes slab bacon or pancetta) that makes it rich. But blogger veggie num num's recipe contains a vegetable solution that substitutes lentils for meat and creates a well-textured sauce. It's also vegan because instead of the milk that's usually added to a bolognese, she uses canned tomato soup. It's a natural over pasta, but you can also serve the sauce over polenta.

Lentils aren't the only game in town for a vegetable version of bolognese sauce; this mushroom-based sauce is also earthy and flavorful.

Become a member of the Slashfood Flickr pool for a shot of having your photos featured in Feast Your Eyes.

Photo: Jennifer Iserloh.

"Do you want to make some spaghetti?" my granny used to say as she pulled a roasted spaghetti squash from the oven.

She would transfer the two halves to her mangled cutting board and hand me a fork. We would both scrape the fork over the squash, freeing the steamy fibers that look very much like golden yellow strands of vermicelli.

I could hear the popping and perking of her homemade sauce warming on the stove. "Turn the heat down," she would instruct when the popping became too vigorous. She served hers with tomato sauce, but I like to use a protein-packed bolognese to make it a complete, cool-weather meal.

If this isn't an American dream story, I don't know what is. Ulises Valdez left the tiny village of Los Cuachalalates, Mexico, for Mexico City at the age of 10 to work for his uncle. After moving around from place to place, he eventually crossed the California border and made his way to Sonoma County's Dry Creek Valley. There, he worked the fields, eventually gained citizenship, struck up a partnership, bought out his partner, and in July of this year, Valdez Family Wines launched.

The Chronicle's Wine Selection of the Week is Napa Valley Syrah. Of the 21 wines they tasted, three received three out of four stars (***): 2004 HdV Carneros Syrah, 2004 Sand T Cellars Brookside Vineyard Napa Valley Syrah, and 2004 Novy Page-Nord Vineyard Napa Valley Syrah.

To go with that Syrah, there is a recipe for Sausage and Lamb Bolognese. The Cheese Course is Comte,a A cow's milk cheese from the Jura mountains of eastern France, near the Swiss border, which a former Bay Area chef hand picks from the aging caves in France.