For the last few months, I've had a major craving for bolognese sauce. It all started during a trip to Geneva this past June. Hungry Bear had a conference in Geneva and I tagged along to keep her company. One evening, we walked down the street from our hotel, which was near the Pal-Expo, looking for a place to eat. We stumbled upon a nondescript Italian place that was part of small hotel. Since we were very hungry, we decided to give it a try.

Hungry Bear ordered spaghetti bolognese and I ordered penne puttanesca. I wasn't expecting much from the meal since it was a random hotel restaurant. My puttanesca was good, but Hungry Bear's bolognese was excellent. I should have known better, because I'm not a puttanesca type of person. I have a low tart/sour tolerance, so sauces with olives and capers aren't my cup of tea. Lucky for me, Hungry Bear likes dishes with tartness and we switched plates half way though dinner.

The bolognese sauce was thick and meaty without much tomato tanginess. It was fantastic! Since this meal, I've been obsessed with bolognese sauce. A couple of weeks ago, Hungry Bear made spaghetti bolognese to satisfy my craving for this meat sauce. She made it based on a recipe by Michael Chiarello -- veal, pork and porcini bolognese. It was absolutely delicious! She doubled the recipe and we had three meals of it. But, I was sad the bolognese didn't last longer.

After looking at the pictures above, my craving for the sauce has been re-ignited. I think I'll try a more classic recipe next time, perhaps this ragu bolognese recipe from Mario Batali. If you are looking for a leaner sauce, check out Chiarello's chicken bolognese recipe.

I love this simple meat sauce, and even more so, I enjoy saying... boh-loh-NYEH-zeh!

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