Two things need to be clarified at first: 1. When eating in Italy, you will hardly be looking for "Spaghetti Bolognese" in a restaurant. In the real Italian culinary world, there is only tagliatelle, gnocchi or similar kind of pasta which can be made with ragù - rich (usually) meaty sauce cooked for hours. Ragù Alla Bolognese is a sort of ragù sauce that was back in the 1700s in Bologna, tomatoes were added to ragù sauce. So once you will travel to Italy and would love to eat your plate of Spaghetti Bolognese, ask for tagliatelle al ragù (alla bolognese) instead. 2. You will not find a place serving SPAGHETTI with ragù in Italy. Ragù is a rather rich chunky sauce that goes best with wide shaped pasta such as tortellini or tagliatelle. But enough of talking, let's cook!
TAGLIATELLE ALLA BOLOGNESE
Preparation time: 15 min
Cooking time: 1,5 - 3hrs (depending on your hunger)
Serves: 6 persons
Ingredients :
500g of tagliatelle
2 large onions
400ml of vegetable/beef stock
500g of pork mincemeat
500g of beef mincemeat
2 finely chopped carrots
2 finely chopped celery sticks
splash of red wine
5 tablespoons tomato puree
1 can of diced tomatoes
lard (or olive oil)
pecorino or parmesan cheese for final grating
salt and pepper
Obviously, I love to break the rules, so I made my "Pasta Alla ragù" with Spaghetti once.
I preferably use any pasta which comes from Gragnano - home of some of the best-dried pasta in Italy. And because this time I found in my cupboard only spaghetti (BTW the best ones from Pastificio Di Martino a Fico which I totally love!)- here we go - I made Spaghetti al ragù bolognese (instead of tagliatelle or fettuccine)
Equipment
large pan for pasta with hot water
large saute pan
Procedure:
- Heat the lard (or olive oil) in your sauté pan, and add finely chopped onions, carrots, and celery. Cook for at least 5 minutes over medium heat. When nice and soft, add the mincemeat. Stir well and let to cook until the meat has changed its color (for about 5 minutes).
- Add the splash of red wine (about 200ml) stir in and let the alcohol cook away.
- After you did this, pour in the tomato puree and can of chopped tomatoes. Add the stock and let to simmer for about 2,5hrs, stirring occasionally.
- If you cannot wait, you can shorten the cooking time to 1,5hrs. After this time, your ragù Alla bolognese will be nice and thick. Add some pepper and salt to season.
- When your meat sauce is ready to serve, boil about 2,5l of salty water in your large pan. Put the tagliatelle or fettuccine inside and cook until they are soft, but not overcooked (al dente). Once the pasta is cooked, drain and add it to the ragù. Mix well.
- Plate up your tagliatelle with ragù nicely, into a pasta bowl.
- Then grate some pecorino or Parmigiano cheese over the top.
Pour some nice red tuscan wine into your glass and serve!
And now, enjoy!
Buon Appetito!
