bison bolognese
Recipe courtesy of Brandon Testi, Executive Chef, Las Colinas Country Club (Irving, Texas)
Ingredients
- bison - 5 lbs., ground
- onions - 1 cup, small diced
- celery - 1/2 cup, small diced
- carrot - 1/2 cup, small diced
- garlic - 3 Tbsp., minced
- red wine - 2 cups
- tomato paste - 1 cup
- roux (50% flour, 50% bison grease) - 1 cup
- rosemary - 2 Tbsp., chopped
- thyme - 2 Tbsp., chopped
- tomato - 3 cups, medium diced
- ketchup - 2 cups
- veal bone stock - 1 qt.
- fennel seeds - 1 tsp., toasted and crushed
- salt - as needed
- pepper - as needed
- bousrin cheese - 5 drops, whipped
- basil leaves - fresh, as needed
- parmesan cheese - if desired
- brown butter breadcrumbs - 1/2 cup
Instructions
- In a large stock pot on high heat, brown off your bison. Cook completely then drain off grease and save. Set bison aside.
- In same stock pot on high again, add back in a few tablespoons of the reserved grease. Once a slight smoke develops, add in your onions, celery and carrots. Cook down for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Once the veggies are roughly half cooked, add in the garlic, rosemary, thyme and fennel seeds. Cook for another 2-3 minutes.
- After 2-3 minutes, add in tomato paste. Mix together and cook out raw tomato flavor. It will get thick and everything will stick together.
- Add wine. We want to scrap the pot once wine is in to get everything unstuck from the bottom and into the mix.
- Once wine has cooked down for 3-4 minutes, add bison back in with the veal stock and ketchup. Stir to incorporate.
- Turn heat down to medium-low and let simmer for a few minutes, allowing all the flavors to begin developing together.
- Now mix in some flour and bison grease into a small side bowl. Mix very well with a whisk, removing any chucks of flour.
- Once a smooth paste has been achieved, turn pot on medium-high and slowly stream in the roux while stirring the pot. Keep stirring until well-disolved inside the pot. Toss in the diced tomatoes.
- Let this mix re-simmer on low for another 15-20 minutes to cook out the raw flour taste and allow the roux and tomato paste to thicken the mixture. This is also the time to additionally season with salt and pepper to your taste. (Chef's note: If mixture seems too thick and not sauce-like, you can always add more stock. This bolognese can slightly vary on the effectiveness of the roux and tomato pastes thickening power. If mixture seems to thin and more like soup, you can do another round of the roux. Follow same steps and let the roux thicken the bolognese even further.)
- For the breadcrumbs, grab about a 1/2 cup of Japanese panko-style breadcrumbs and toss in 1/8 cup of melted butter in a saute pan until very toasted and golden brown. They toast up fast, so constantly move the pan to ensure an even toasting all around.
