Everyone has a bolognaise recipe. Some use pork mince, red wine, white wine, chicken stock, beef stock, sage, nutmeg …..
I’m sharing my bolognaise recipe, which my daughter thinks is one of my best dishes. She also knows that if she wants it for dinner, she has to ask me in the morning before school, I can’t whip it up after school [she only arrives home at 4:30pm], bolognaise needs time.
My Bolognaise sauce:
You will need: 1 tbsp olive oil, 3 tbsp butter [1 for tossing pasta], 1/2 cup chopped onion, 1/2 cup chopped celery, 1/2 cup chopped carrot, 600g ground beef [not lean], salt, black pepper, 1 cup full cream milk, 1 tsp nutmeg, 2 tsp smoked paprika, 1 and 1/2 cups Italian plum tomato chopped [I add a teaspoon of sugar to the tomatoes], 1 tbsp tomato paste, 1 cup dry white wine, 500g pasta of your choice. Parmesan or basil for topping.
Add the olive oil and 2 tbsp butter to your pan, fry the onion over medium heat until translucent. Add the carrot and celery and cook a further 3 minutes. Add the beef and a big pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper. Break up the meat with a wooden spoon, cook until it has lost its raw colour. Add the milk and simmer gently until it has evaporated. Add the nutmeg. Pour in the wine, simmer until evaporated and add the paprika. Then add the tomatoes and tomato paste and stir, simmer on low for 2-3 hours with partly covered lid. Stir from time to time. Add a bit of water if it gets dry. Cook pasta during the last 20 minutes of cooking. [salt your water well] Drain pasta and stir in the remaining 1tbs butter. Top with the sauce. Add parmesan and fresh basil.
My daughter doesn’t like spaghetti, she loves Pennoni Rigati no.21. or the ‘big pasta’ as she says. Basil is also not her favourite – see frame 3. She was very enthusiastic about this food shoot, and polished that plate of food. Our previous pasta shoot was with squid-ink pasta – she was a little less excited about that one. Watch the animation on my instagram – vanessa.lewis.food.photo
