To make Garten's weeknight Bolognese for 4-5, you'll need:

1 pound of dried pasta, such as orecchiette or small shells1 pound of lean ground sirloin1 28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes1 ¼ cups of dry red wine, divided¼ cup of heavy cream¼ cup of chopped fresh basil leaves, lightly packed4 cloves of minced garlic2 tablespoons of tomato paste1 tablespoon of dried oregano¼ teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes¼ teaspoon of nutmegFreshly grated Parmesan cheese

When it comes to the canned tomatoes, it should be noted that Garten strongly recommends using the San Marzano variety. The "Barefoot Contessa" star is not a fan of plain canned tomatoes.

But Garten does allow for other adjustments. The point, after all, is for this recipe to be pantry-friendly.

You can substitute the sirloin for any ground meat or chopped mushrooms. Garten says it's also fine to "use any dried pasta that you like" for this dish, and that it's OK to skip the cream and basil if you don't have any on hand.

I minced my garlic and chopped my basil.

I heated 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat and added my meat to the pan.

I used a wooden spoon to crumble the meat, stirring it occasionally. Garten's recipe recommends cooking the meat for five to seven minutes, until it's no longer pink.

I threw in my minced garlic, along with the dried oregano and red pepper flakes.

After letting the seasoned meat cook for one minute, I poured 1 cup of red wine into the skillet.

Garten's recipe specifies using a dry red wine. A quick Google search showed that I could pick a cabernet sauvignon, pinot noir, or merlot — I went with a pinot.

After pouring the wine, I used my wooden spoon to stir everything together.

I couldn't find crushed San Marzano tomatoes at my local supermarket, so I had to get peeled ones instead. I ran the tomatoes through a food processor before I threw them into the pan, but you could easily use your hands.

After adding the tomato paste, I seasoned everything with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Once it began to bubble, I lowered the heat and allowed the pan to simmer for 10 minutes while I got a separate pot of water going for my pasta. (Don't forget to add salt!)

I added fresh basil leaves, along with the nutmeg and heavy cream.

The sauce smelled delicious and had turned into a comforting deep-red color.

After 10 minutes, the pasta was ready.

Per Garten's instructions, I made sure to save my pasta water.

Then, I started mixing everything together.

Bolognese is my favorite type of pasta, so I had some pretty high hopes going into this — and Garten delivered.

The "Barefoot Contessa" star has a knack for giving classic recipes a new twist, and her weeknight Bolognese is no exception. The shells are the perfect vehicle for this dish, catching all of the flavorful sauce so you can have some in every bite.

The nutmeg in the Bolognese nicely balances the kick from the red pepper flakes, and the freshly grated Parmesan cheese I added on top melted beautifully into the warm sauce.

My family, who helped me test the recipe, only had rave reviews.

"It's a very meaty, very hearty pasta," my dad said. "Perfect."

"I really enjoy how the pasta holds onto the sauce," my sister added. "With every spoonful, you get a good amount of meat and a good amount of pasta."

I'll definitely be adding Ina's weeknight Bolognese (along with her five-cheese penne pasta) to my comfort-food repertoire.