Bolognese, Your Variation

[CFC]

Nearly everyone i know has their own variation of the classic Spaggetti Bolognese so i thought it would be interesting to see them here, particularly the transatlatic differences.

Heres my recipe

Ingredients

2 medium carrots, diced small
2 sticks of celery, diced small
1 large green pepper (bell), diced small
2 onions, diced small
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
small handfull of dried italian (porchini) mushrooms
250 grams (1/2 lb) pork mince
250 grams (1/2 lb) beef mince
2 tins (400g) of chopped tomatos
1 tbls tomato puree
16 floz of italian red wine
1 tsp dried majoram
1 tsp dried thyme
4 tbls of fresh parsley, chopped
1 tbls plain white flour
olive oil for cooking
salt and pepper for seasoning

Pasta of your choice for serving with (usually spaggetti) and freshly grated parmesan cheese for sprinkling

Method

Heat the oil in a large pan and add the carrots, onions, celery, pepper, garlic, dired mushrooms and dried herbs and some seasoning, fry gently for around 15 minutes till softened.
Add the pork and beef mince, season again with pepper (no salt this time) and keep stirring until all the meat is browned, once browned stir in the tbls of flour until its absorbed.
Stir in the tinned tomatos, tomato puree and red wine, season again with salt and pepper and bring the pan up to simmer cover then pan and leave to cook on a low heat for 3 hours stirring occasionally.
When the 3 hours is up stir in the fresh parsley, taste the sauce for seasoning and adjust as needed (i usually add more pepper at this point) leave to cook uncovered while you cook the pasta.

Serve in large bowls with the sauce on top of the pasta, sprinkle liberally with the parmesan and serve with chunks of garlic bread on the side.

 

[docbanzai]

My God that sounds good. In fact I'm just about to rush out and buy the ingredients!

My way is;

Butter Large knob (no laughing please)
Olive oil 4 - 6 TBS (best you can get, but NOT extra-virgin)
4 - 6 Onions roughly chopped
1 Tin Chopped Toms
6 - 8 Cloves of Garlic
2 - 4 TBS Basil
2 - 4 TBS Oregano
1 Lb Beef mince
1 (small) Tin Anchovies
6 - 8 Good sized mushrooms (sliced)
1 Red Pepper (diced)
1 Yellow Pepper (diced)
Salt n Pepper to taste
Parmesan to taste
And of course some pasta. Pref Spag or Fusilli

Gently fry Onions and garlic in butter until translucent and sweet. Turn out into a bowl. Brown Mince in same pan. Once brown, turn out mince. Wipe pan. Add good splosh of olive oil, heat until nearly smoking, add pre-cooked onions etc back in. Whack up the heat until it's spitting, chuck in everything else (leave toms until last!) and simmer for 45 mins. Cook pasta to suit and then scoff the lot. Yum.

 

[OohFeeshy]

I don't really like bolognese, but generally mine involves

A tin of tomatoes
2 garlic cloves
A pack of mince of your choice (beef usually is best)
As much oregano as you feel like putting in
A stock cube of whatever mince you're using
A few mushrooms of your choice
Fresh or dried spaghetti

Method, chop mushrooms and garlic, fry with the mince until it's cooked. Cook the spaghetti in the usual way. In a saucepan, heat the tomatoes, crushed stock cube and oregano, then stir in the cooked mince and mushrooms and garlic and cooked spaghetti.

Nice and easy, and quick, and none of the nasty chunky bits

 

[Ptarmigan]

.

 

[PeterM]

Quick n easy Spag Bol:

Ingredients
Spaghetti
1 jar Dolmio Chunky
Mince - enough for how much you want

Instructions
Stick spaghetti in large pan and pour a full kettle of boiling water over it.
Leave it in the pan for as long as the pack says you should cook it.

Meanwhile:

Brown mince in a pan. If you want flavour then leave the juices and fats in. If you want health and no heart attacks before youre 40, drain the mince. Add the Dolmio and heat!

Mix.
Serve.

Sorry about this post I actually love cooking, but if I didnt post it someone else would have

 

[Ptarmigan]

.

 

[PeterM]

Buta a momma, hesa gota morea chunks thana me

... i hate those adverts. Stupid puppets.

 

[Asmp41]

Put mince in frying pan and dry fry.i.e in it's own <5% fat. Place in a large sieve.
Add Vinegar and sieve the fat and vinegar off.
Place mince back in fry pan with one tablespoon of worcester sauce and add one oxo cube and water.
Next add tomato puree and a tin of tomatoes to taste.
While that simmers chop onion, green/red and yellow pepper and half a chilli very course or finely to taste. Add all these chopped ingredients and simmer until sauce thickens. If too thick a sauce add water too thin,simmer longer.
Chop mushrooms and add for last five mins or so. Put pasta onto boil as per packet . Drain and add sauce if too thin let it run through the sieve. seve at once with Parmasan cheese.

Omit chilli if for children as this maybe too hot but I like it with scotch Bonnet.

 

[Ami]

I love cooking, especially italian food, and usually make meatballs and prepare my bolognaise at the same time.


Ingredients:
Pork mince
Red onion
A little chilli (just a tiny amount)
A little cumin
Fresh parsley

Sauce:
Mushrooms (preferably porcini or chestnut if not)
Fresh basil, oregano, thyme
Garlic
Red wine (chianti is best, or just leave anything open long enough to get dry!)
2 cans of chopped tomatos (drain some of the juices)
Olive oil
Worcester sauce
Ground pepper

• Stick the pork mince and peeled onion in the blender, with the chilli, cumin and parsley - blend until smooth
• Heat a thick bottomed pan, containing a little oil and the garlic until the garlic is soft and then add the torn basil leaves
• Add the pork mince mixture and stir continually until browned, then add the canned tomatoes, red wine, worcester sauce and remaining herbs
• Bring to boil and then turn the heat down and add the mushrooms and ground pepper - simmer until for at least 30mins until reduced and your linguine or whatever is cooked

Serve sprinkled with parmasan

For the meatballs:
As for the first part of the bolognaise
One slice of bread with crusts removed
Plain flour
Garlic

Sauce:
2 tins canned tomatos (again, drain some of the juices)
Fresh basil
Balsamic vinegar
Mozarella
Parmesan

• Soak the bread under the cold tap, then squeeze all the water out with your hands and then blend it into the meat mix to help bind the meatballs
• Dust a worksurface with flour, shape the meat balls in your hand and then roll in the flour
• Heat the oven at gasmark 5 and also heat the casserole dish on the hob, with a little oil in it
• Brown the meatballs in the casserole dish, turn the heat off, cover with the tomatos, torn basil, Mozarella slices, grated parmesan and drizzle with balsamic vinegar
• Stick it in the oven for 35-45 minutes and then serve with linguine and more parmesan