Sunday, June 04, 2006

Recipe of the week # 2 - An offally good ragu bolognese sauce

Sorry for the terrible pun, but I just couldn't resist. This gem of a recipe from Delia Smith is one of my favourite things to cook. It is time consuming as it takes quite a while to prepare and it needs to be cooked for about 3 hours but it's worth every minute. The secret of this recipe is chicken livers which gives it a perfect velvety texture and cooking it for a long time intensifies the flavours. I always add extra vegetables such as carrot and celery, and sometimes I add mushrooms or red peppers. Once I've added all the ingredients, just before putting it in the oven, I give it a quick whizz in the food processor to make it a smoother consistency. Serve it with spaghetti al dente, some crusty bread, lots of parmesan and of course, a glass of red wine. I made extra and saved some of the sauce to make a lasagne the following day.

13 comments:

Wuching said...

show me the sauce u made.

me said...

mmmmmmmmmmmm nice.

a.c.t. said...

We've eaten it and the camera's broken. Should get it fixed/new one soon, will show you next time.

Wrinkled Weasel said...

I shall do the recipe for tonight. thanks for the inspiration

Travel Italy said...

ACT - This is a ragu' but not alla bolognese. The Bolognese is a celebration of meat and the red is from from the vegatables breaking down and not from tomatoes.

The Bolognese would have 1 tablespoon of tomato concentrate for 450 gr. of meat and no tomato pulp. This is a continuous discussion between Raffaella and myself, I like to add more tomato paste. The amount of Basil also seems like alot.

A great recipe for la bolognese and all kinds of regional ragu' can be found in "Cucchiaio d'Argento".

Travel Italy said...

Further insight into la Bolognese: "La Cucina d'oro" indicates that while the traditional recipe uses only 1 tablespoon of tomato concentrate per 300 gr. of meat the modern version adds also 400 gr. of tomato sauce. The traditional would cook the meat in a glass of milk (never heard this one before).

As you can see this is always a point of major discussion in our home!

a.c.t. said...

It's not the exact 'Bolognese' but it is a variation. I also add milk too I forgot to mention it. There are so many different ways of doing this recipe which is why I love it. I once had the traditional bolognese in Bologna and it was delicious. Many of the recipes say that you should half beef and half pork as well. As for the 'silver spoon' cookbook, it's like the bible of cooking.

a.c.t. said...

WW let me know how it goes...

Travel Italy said...

ACT - have you tried the Raffaella's version with mushrooms?

Tonight we are on the fall back of Carbonara...

a.c.t. said...

I've just had a look, sounds nice. My Mum got back from Milan a couple of days ago and she brought back some porcini for me. I like to make a sauce with pancetta, porcini and cream. Last night we had tagliatelle with sausages in a tomato sauce.

Wrinkled Weasel said...

Well i used red wine instead of white, lots of fresh basil, and rough passata, along with mince. I had no pancetta and made do with bacon. It was better than my usual attempts at this type of sauce, which always benefits, i think, from a night or two in the fridge. long slow cooking seems to help. There was enough sauce to use for a lasagne, which always turns out better for me. (heck I'm not Italian! what do I know?!!!)

Next time you have courgettes, slice them laterally (about 5mm thickness), heat a well-seasoned cast iron pan until it is very hot, then put the slivers of courgette in for a minute or two each side, until they are seared and bubbling inside. do not use oil in the pan. serve with lemon juice and your best eating olive oil.

Susan in Italy said...

I had a look at the recipeit seems great. My husband makes bolognese at least once a month so I have to tell him about the offal additions he can make to it. (Sorry for that).

Bronwyn said...

sounds great! here's another good recipe