Italian Bolognese (with Kishimen Udon)

Experience the benefit of swapping pasta for our Traditional Japanese noodles, made with soft high protein wheat flour. Our noodles are sheeted, layered, and slit (“roll-and-cut” method) rather than extruded like standard pasta – only complete after a slow, delicate drying procedure. The entire process takes four times as long as modern methods. The benefits of a long, slow production are providing the best possible flavor and digestibility.

Ingredients:

• 24 oz. (two packages) Nanka Seimen Kishimen Udon
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 3 tablespoons butter plus 1 tablespoon for tossing the pasta
• ½ cup chopped onion
• ⅔ cup chopped celery
• ⅔ cup chopped carrot
• ¾ pound ground beef chuck (or you can use 1 part pork to 2 parts beef)
• Salt
• Black pepper, ground
• 1 cup whole milk
• Whole nutmeg
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 ½ cups canned imported Italian plum tomatoes, cut up, with their juice
• Freshly grated parmesan cheese at the table

Directions:

1. Put the oil, butter, and chopped onion in the pot and turn the heat on to medium. Cook and stir the onion until it has become translucent, then add the chopped celery and carrot. Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring vegetables to coat them thoroughly.
2. Add ground beef, a large pinch of salt and a few grindings of pepper. Crumble the meat with a fork, stir well and cook until the beef has lost its raw, red color.
3. Add milk and let it simmer gently, frequently stirring, until it has bubbled away completely. Add a tiny grating — about 1/8 teaspoon — of nutmeg, and stir.
4. Add the wine, let it simmer until it has evaporated, then add the tomatoes and stir thoroughly to coat all ingredients well. When the tomatoes begin to bubble, turn the heat down so that the sauce cooks at the laziest of simmers, with just an intermittent bubble breaking through to the surface. Cook, uncovered, for 3 hours or more, stirring from time to time. While the sauce is cooking, you are likely to find that it begins to dry out, and the fat separates from the meat. To keep it from sticking, add 1/2 cup of water whenever necessary – taste and correct for salt.
5. Toss with cooked, drained pasta, adding the tablespoon of butter or olive oil and serve with freshly grated Parmesan.