Bolognese is one of the more famous Italian sauces and it is in the list of ‘comfort foods’ for many people, independent of where they are living.
I am a passionate cook and I love pasta sauces. This is my personal variation. Please, do not look for the authenticity, because even Italian cooks can have a dispute of how it should be… Right, that was my disclaimer. Now, the fun part.
Pasta:
You can use whatever pasta you like of a substantial size – spaghetti, linguini, penne, farfalle, fetucinni – they will all work. Although the classic is spaghetti. Cook it following the instructions on the packet.
Cheese:
Grated parmesan cheese to serve with… although I like experimenting with other types of cheese. I am cow milk intolerant, so anything coat or sheep made works just fine.
Sauce:
500g of ground beef (fatty, none of that low fat – it has no flavour and you end up having to add more oil and cheese)
1 X 450g tin of tomatoes (plum or chopped)
2 X TBSps of tomato paste
175ml (small glass) or red wine (use good quality wine, not the 3-day-old ends of everything you drank over the weekend that went sour)
1/2 of a beef stock cube
200ml of hot water (to dissolve the beef stock)
Olive cooking oil for frying onions and garlic (not Extra Virgin – it is a waste to heat that)
Vegetables:
1 X medium size onion
1/2 of a head of garlic (3-4 cloves)
1 X carrot
1/2 of courgette (small)
5 X small button mushrooms
1 X red pepper
Spices:
Black pepper corns crushed. However, it is nice to mix it with some other pepper corns – white/red/green.
Little Salt (I prefer Himalayan, but sea salt or table salt at the very least) there s salt in many other ingredients, so don’t overdo it!
1 gentle Indian chilly (strength of 2 out of 5)
2 cm (about the size of a heaped table spoon) chunk of ginger, crushed.
Herbs (preferably all fresh, but if you use dry, try to get hold of those dried on branches… at the very least jarred herbs can be used, but you may need more of them)
1-2 bayleaves
Branch of Rosemary (fresh or dry)
5-6 twigs of Thyme (fresh or dry)
1 TBsp of Dried Basil
2 decent size branches of Oregano (fresh or dried)
Fresh parsley and basil to add at the end or to garnish when serving.