Before I begin,
here’s a disclaimer – I have never been to Italy
However, I can
guarantee that all the ingredients are easily available in India
Apparently, the
original Italian version uses beef mince, bacon, red wine, carrots and celery and
is customarily served with tagliatelle. Italian chefs are screaming bloody
murder at the way the rest of the world has corrupted their beloved dish.
 |
| Tagliatelle with Bolognese Ragu - the true Italian way (Wikipedia) |
Here, I have used
chicken mince, grape juice, mushrooms and served it with spaghetti. Have I
killed the original? Maybe, but only to bring forth another yummy dish :-).
I have tried a Bolognese
quite a few times, from different recipes seen on websites and in magazines. This
recipe is a combination of all of them; I like the end result, and hope you do
too!
Note: I’ve tried this
recipe with beef and chicken mince; either one is fine, although beef would
require more cooking time.
What you’ll need:
(3 servings)
2 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves of garlic
chopped
200 g onion chopped
250 g chicken or
beef mince
1 tbsp
Worcestershire Sauce
65 ml grape juice
(go for the ‘no added sugar’ variety)
300 g tomatoes
chopped
75 g thick tomato
sauce
½ tbsp honey
1 tbsp oregano
½ tsp paprika
½ tsp red chilli
sauce (take it up to 1 tsp if you want fiery)
½ tsp freshly
ground pepper
Salt to taste
100 g mushrooms
chopped (you may substitute with carrots or celery if you like)
200 g spaghetti
½ tbsp butter
Grated Parmesan
What you’re going
to do:
1. Heat a large saucepan
and pour in the olive oil.
2. Add the garlic
and fry for a few seconds. Take a whiff, that is a heavenly aroma.
3. Add the onions,
a pinch of salt and keep stirring till they turn soft and transparent.
4. Add the mince.
Fry it with the onions till the pinkness is gone and it’s turned all crumbly.
It should go from
this:
to this:
5. Add the Worcestershire
and chopped tomatoes. Cover and cook till the tomatoes are mushy.
6. Add the grape
juice, tomato sauce, honey, paprika, red chilli sauce, pepper, oregano and
salt. Mix well.
7. Cover and cook
till the mince is cooked and the sauce is reduced and thick. Towards the end of
cooking, when the sauce has just a little water left, add the mushrooms and
cook again. The final sauce should not be watery.
8. Meanwhile, boil
water with salt and cook the pasta as per package instructions.
9. Drain, rinse
with cold water and drain again.
10. Melt some
butter in a pan and fry the spaghetti in it for about a minute.
11. To serve, ladle
some spaghetti on a plate and make a depression in the centre.
12. Pour some sauce
onto the centre of the spaghetti bed and grate some Parmesan on top if you
like. Garnish with fresh basil. (I skipped the Parmesan and basil here)
ATTACK!!!!
I think this sauce
would go perfectly with a tubular pasta like penne as well, with all the meat
filling up the pasta tubes.
This is my favorite
pasta sauce of all, it is thick and meaty, with the right amount of spice,
sweetness and tanginess – I could eat this for breakfast, lunch and dinner,
every day!!
 |
| Source |
This recipe
is a participant in the ‘Flavors of
Cuisine – Italian’ event hosted by Priya at Priya’s Versatile Recipes, which is part of the Flavors of Cuisine
series started by Julie at ErivumPuliyum.
11 comments
Wow that looks delicious. I have been thinking of making bolognese for a while and your post has inspired me to go for it. Thanks!! :)
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome,Swapna!! Though it requires a few extra ingredients, it is really very little effort!
ReplyDeleteLOOKS GOOD! It has made me hungry :)
ReplyDeleteWow superbly adapted recipe:-) will try it...
ReplyDeleteThank you!! Do let me know how it turns out :-)
DeleteOoo!!! but I love beef fab! This looks quite good and easy ! Damn its lunch time , I am hungry!!
ReplyDeleteGo ahead and try beef - you'll get closer to the original recipe!! And it is easy, throw in all the ingredients, wait to simmer and then serve!!
DeleteThat is a really easy recipe and looks suuuuuuuuuperrrrrr yumm :D But what is Worcestershire Sauce??? Haven't heard of it.
ReplyDeleteP.S. - Gave you the Liebster blog award :) Checkout the following link for more :)
http://swarnalidreams.blogspot.in/2012/10/our-beloved-blog.html
Thank you for the award, Swarnali!! And about the sauce, I quote Wiki: "....liquid condiment, primarily used to flavour meat or fish dishes". It's pretty widely available in most Indian supermarkets these days :-).
Deletemhhhhhm delicious ♥
ReplyDeleteThanks!!
Delete