Cookbook Challenge: Week 47, Italian
Recipe: A really good spaghetti bolognese
From: Nigel Slater’s The Kitchen Diaries
The theme for the Cookbook Challenge this week is “Italian”, and after a lot of hunting through my cookbooks, I decided to make bolognese. Normally I don’t follow a recipe for bolognese, but for the purposes of the Cookbook Challenge, I decided I would for once.
Unsurprisingly, I had a few recipes to choose from, and I decided on a Nigel Slater version from The Kitchen Diaries. I’ve posted before about my love for Nigel Slater before, so I had very high hopes for this recipe.
My high hopes were sadly dashed when I tasted the bolognese I had made from his recipe. Oh sad day! There was too much wine and I added too much nutmeg, and it gave the sauce a nasty, nasty edge. I had to tinker with it a lot before I was satisfied that it was edible. I added extra canned tomatoes, tomato puree, Worchester sauce, and sugar. There was lots and lots of tinkering, lots of tasting, and a huge handful of hoping.
I suspect that it was my fault in adding too much nutmeg that made the bolognese originally taste nasty, but I’ve given some suggested changes to the recipe below. I’m happier blaming the failure on myself than St Nigel but I’m glad I was able to salvage the bolognese in the end!
See previous Cookbook Challenge posts here.
A really good spaghettie Bolognese
50g butter
70g cubed pancetta (I used bacon)
a medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
a carrot, peeled and finely diced
2 stalks celery, washed and finely diced
2 large (about 100g) mushrooms, finely chopped
2 bay leaves
400g minced beef or lamb
200ml crushed tomatoes or passata (I recommend doubling this)
200ml red wine (I recommend half this amount)
200ml stock
a nutmeg (I recommend leaving this out, or only grating in a tiny amount)
salt and pepper
200ml full cream milk (I recommend half this amount)
To serve:
spaghetti or tagliatelle for 4
grated Parmesan
Melt the butter in a heavy based pan. Stir in the pancetta and let it cook for five mins.
Add the onion and garlic, and cook for a couple more minutes.
Add the carrot, celery and mushrooms and stir. Tuck in the bay leaves and leave to cook for ten minutes over a medium heat. Stir frequently.
Turn up the heat. When the pan is relatively hot, tip in the meat, breaking it up well with a fork. Leave it to cook without stirring for three to four minutes. When the meat on the bottom is starting to brown, stir again, breaking up the meat where necessary and leave it to colour.
Mix in the tomatoes, red wine, stock, a grating of nutmeg and salt and pepper. Bring the liquid up to a boil, then turn down the heat to a gentle simmer.
Partially cover the pan with a lid and let it cook for 1-1 & 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally. If it looks dry, add more liquid.
Pour in the milk a bit at a time, stir and let it cook for another 20 minutes. Check the seasoning, adding more salt and pepper (and maybe a bit of sugar if necessary) and serve with pasta and grated Parmesan.
Hannah
October 9, 2010 @ 12:08 pm
It may not have been the perfect bolognaise, but by golly are your photos gorgeous! I honestly think they look like something out of a glossy magazine 🙂
And I want that wine glass. Just sayin’.
Agnes
October 19, 2010 @ 9:24 pm
Wine glass – $1 at an op shop. Big spender, right here. 😉
Hannah
October 19, 2010 @ 10:30 pm
Oh, brilliant! I bet you won’t even notice when I get you drunk and steal it after our chocolate tasting session! 😀
Agnes
October 19, 2010 @ 10:37 pm
You kid yourself if you think you can get me drunk before you’re asleep under the table. 😉
Hannah
October 19, 2010 @ 10:40 pm
Oh lord, it’s so horrifically true. I get giggly on a half a glass of wine.
Allan
October 9, 2010 @ 11:13 pm
half red wine… darn, i love the red wine component =P. but agree with the milk part though.
Allan
October 9, 2010 @ 11:15 pm
and yeh your photos still look awesome =)
Agnes
October 19, 2010 @ 9:25 pm
Thanks Allan 🙂
I like drinking red wine! I just don’t like too much in food because it can be quite assertive.
Megan
October 10, 2010 @ 6:57 am
Ughhh, a whole nutmeg?? I’ve never managed to use that much in a dish, and I adore nutmeg. Though really you shouldn’t eat it huge quantities, because it is a tiny bit toxic.
I’d omit the milk and nutmeg, and keep the red wine as-is. I love a rich tomato sauce! Though I usually add about a glass (ahem, large wineglass) to a sauce with lots of veg and a 400g tin of tomatoes. I suppose with so little tomato, you needed something to balance it out!
Agnes
October 19, 2010 @ 9:26 pm
I actually didn’t read the recipe properly when I made it… because while the ingredients list says “a nutmeg”, the method says to grate a small amount into the sauce. AAHHH.
Gourmet Getaways
October 10, 2010 @ 8:02 am
I love pancetta and red wine in my bolognaise… but other than that I would struggle to write a recipe for bolognaise as I go by taste and what I have in the kitchen. Job well done! Love the pictures.
Agnes
October 19, 2010 @ 9:28 pm
Bolognese is one of those dishes that’s best cooked up by taste and trial and error, don’t you think? 🙂
penny aka jeroxie
October 10, 2010 @ 10:26 pm
The whole nutmeg is a lot… cutting back is a good idea 🙂
Agnes
October 19, 2010 @ 9:29 pm
Yes, nutmeg is rather strong! I didn’t read the recipe properly though… the method said to grate a small amount of nutmeg into the sauce.
mademoiselle delicieuse
October 11, 2010 @ 10:43 am
There’s so many variations on bolognese out there. And it sounds like your experience with this one was like that Masterchef challenge where they had to ‘fix’ the sauce presented to them to their liking!
Agnes
October 19, 2010 @ 9:29 pm
Haha, I was so relieved that I managed to “fix” it! I really didn’t want to have to throw it out.
Leigh
October 11, 2010 @ 1:05 pm
Ah St Nigel – he can do no wrong in my books, but a whole nutmeg – me thinks he’s talking crazy.
Photo’s sensational as usual!
Agnes
October 19, 2010 @ 9:30 pm
Thanks Leigh! 🙂 St Nigel really didn’t do any wrong. It was my fault for not reading the recipe properly!
Conor @ HoldtheBeef
October 11, 2010 @ 8:55 pm
An entire nutmeg?! He must really be keen on the stuff, yeesh.
Glad it turned out well after your tweaking, good thing you’ve got mad tweaking skillz!
Agnes
October 19, 2010 @ 9:31 pm
Hehee, to be fair, it was my fail recipe reading skills. The method said to grate a bit of nutmeg into the sauce – not use the whole thing. (I didn’t use the whole nutmeg in mine, but I added FAR too much!)
Pigdog
October 12, 2010 @ 11:54 am
The bolognese was yum
Agnes
October 19, 2010 @ 9:31 pm
Yeah, after an hour of me adding everything in the pantry to it. :p
Maria@TheGourmetChallenge
October 16, 2010 @ 10:13 am
Lol st nigel, may the pope will include him with mary mackillop this weekend!
Nutmeg in bolognese….interesting. dont think i could follow a recipe. I would want to tinker with it too much, just like you
Agnes
October 19, 2010 @ 9:32 pm
Haha, I wonder what his miracle would be?