Mamma Mia!

No, I'm not blogging about the lavish Broadway musical which features the songs of Swedish supergroup ABBA.  I'm not blogging about any lavish Broadway musical, as a matter of fact.  Not that there's anything wrong with that.

No, in this case, the Mamma mia! in question is due to the aroma wafting from the kitchen right now.  Bolognese sauce.  One of the few things I can make "off by heart," as they say.  (Who are they?  I don't know.)

One substitution, however.  For the soffritto I like to use the traditional combination of diced onion, diced celery, and shredded carrots (what the French would call a mirepoix).  Alas, no carrots.  So instead of the traditional mirepoix I used the "Cajun trinity" of onion, celery, and bell pepper.  Carrots would be better.  Carrots are sweeter than bell pepper and balance the acidity of the tomatoes better.   Ah, well, it's not like I went to the store or anything.  I just opened the refrigerator and started to throw things together.

Some people put butter in with the bacon, prosciutto, or pancetta.  I like to use EVOO (I said that just to annoy you, pr1ma_d0nna), and since we didn't have pancetta or prosciutto lying around, it was four slices of good ol' Wright Smoked Bacon that got the ball rolling.

Bit o' irony:  after I'd rendered the bacon in the olive oil, I was about to add the onion, but I decided it needed a little more salt to make the onions sweat, so I turned to Buster and said, "Would you go to the pantry and get me the kosher salt?"

So if you mix kosher salt and bacon, do they cancel each other out?