Saturday 6 June 2015

Bolognese Spaghetti








The first time I learnt to cook bolognese sauce was 15years ago when I first this cook book called Family Meals from a cheap sale. Back then I was working. After lunch my colleagues and I like to go shopping in the industrial building near my office. In one of the GSS , I browsed through many cook books and found this book which has simple recipes and cost only $5. I bought it because it was cheap. Eversince then I have been doing this bolognese sauce. Now I no longer need to refer to the book when I cook this sauce. And of course I have also modified the recipe to our taste. We have bolognese Spaghetti very often because my children love all kinds of pasta. 

For personal taste, I do not like pasta or spaghetti which are too soft. I prefer 
it to be "al dente". That is undercooked and let the heat of the spaghetti "cook" the spaghetti further after drained. Though I have cooked spaghetti for many years , however, until today I still do the "spaghetti test" when I cook. I find different brand the texture is different and time to cook to "al dente" is different too. So, I prefer to do the test. It should not be powdery but yet it is hard. After drained thoroughly,  I will add butter or margarine and let the heat in the spaghetti "cook" the spaghetti till "al dente". Try it. :)


Ingredients for sauce:
500gm minced beef
1 big carrot- diced
2 big ripe tomatoes - diced
1 big red onion - chopped
3 cloves garlic - chopped
10 or 125g swiss brown mushrooms - sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 bottle of pasta  sauce(250g)
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
1 tsp chicken stock powder (optional)
1/4 teaspoon of dry basil
1/4 teaspoon of dry oregano
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Seasoning for meat:
1.5 tablespoons light soy sauce
Dash of pepper
2 tsp of cornflour/potatoes flour
Dash of dry basil

Ingredient for spaghetti:
Aprox 2 litre of water
2 tablespoons sea salt
Spaghetti
1/4 tsp dry basil
1tbsp butter or margarine

Method for sauce:
1  Add meat seasoning into meat and mix well and set aside.

2. Heat up olive oil in  big saucepan, add onion, garlic and fry until onion turn softened and translucent and garlic turn light golden brown. Add the meat and fry briskly, stirring, until evenly browned. Add carrot and tomatoes and mushroom and continue to fry until mushrooms turn soft. 

3. Add pasta sauce and remaining of the ingredients and seasoning to taste. (You may replace light soy sauce with salt if you do not like using light soy sauce)

4  Bring bolognese sauce to simmering point, keep stirring. Then cover and simmer over low heat for an hour. Stir occasionally to prevent sauce get burn. You may transfer sauce to cook in slower cooker if you do not have time in the kitchen. That is instead of simmer over low heat, cook it in slow cooker.

Method for spaghetti:
1. Boil water in a big pot. Add salt. When water is boiled,  put in the spaghetti.  Boil it according to the packet instructions.  Most spaghetti instructions stated 13min. But I like spaghetti not too soft. I like "al dente" texture. So I usually undercooked the spaghetti. That is, I reduce the cooking time to 8min.  Test a strand of spaghetti and it doesn't have powdery taste but hard.

2. Drain thoroughly.  Add butter or margarine and basil.

3. Turn into serving dish and top the Bolognese sauce. You can sprinkle with parmesan cheese. 

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