Since I was going to spend Saturday night in, it seemed like the perfect oppurtunity to try out a new recipe which required a lot of patience. Whenever we go to an Italian restaurant, a classic pasta bolognese would always be on the menu. A classic among the classics and always a crowd-pleaser, sometimes pasta/ spaghetti bolognese is the most overlooked dish. We tend to forget the amount of patience that went into the sauce just to get the flavor just right. Not to tomato-y, not to meat-y, but just right.
Since I've been doing some research quite some time now on how to make the ultimate Bolognese, I was excited i get to finally put it to the test!
3 Hour Bolognese
INGREDIENTS:
Half an onion, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
21celery stalk, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, sliced
Olive oil, for sauteeing
1 pound beef
1 cup tomato paste
1 cup good red wine
Water
Dried bay leave
Fresh thyme
Parmesan Cheese
PROCEDURE:
Since I've been doing some research quite some time now on how to make the ultimate Bolognese, I was excited i get to finally put it to the test!
3 Hour Bolognese
INGREDIENTS:
Half an onion, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
21celery stalk, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, sliced
Olive oil, for sauteeing
1 pound beef
1 cup tomato paste
1 cup good red wine
Water
Dried bay leave
Fresh thyme
Parmesan Cheese
PROCEDURE:
-start by chopping up the onions, carrots, garlic, and celery
-to get a smoother sauce, I opted to whirl all the veggies in the food proccesor
-now in a heated sauce pan with a drizzle of olive oil, place all of the veggies
-once the liquid has evaporated and the veggies are starting to brown, add in the beef
-After the beef is well incorporated into the veggies and has also browned, you made now add in the tomato paste
-followed by the red wine
cook off the alcohol for about 3 minutes
-once the alcohol has cooked off a little bit, you may now add about 3 cups of water or just until the beef is fully submerged followed by the bay leaf and thyme.
-Let the sauce simmer for about 20 minutes
-when the sauce has dried out, add water a cup at a time and then let the sauce continue to slowly simmer
- do the water additions every 20-30 minutes.
-Once the 3 hours are up, you get a nice thick sauce with all the fat from the meat fully rendered and all the flavors fully concentrated.
Served over spaghetti and freshly grater Parmesan cheese
Nowadays, everyone's trying to get things faster and just get the job done but sometimes you just have to give into the traditional way of doing things and set some time aside for it. The sauce was definitely worth the 3 hours wait since the flavors just really become more condensed, the sauce becomes really thick, and the meat becomes tender and just about to melt.
It was definitely a good idea to cook one big pot of this sauce during the weekends coz now we have bolognese to enjoy all throughout the week.
Although I'm really happy with how this turned out, I think I'm gonna try part pork, part beef next time just to make think more decadent with more fat lol.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
Miks