Today’s recipe is real comfort food on a windy and wet day; Pasta bolognese, or in Italian; ragù alla bolognese, which in reality is a meat based sauce (not tomato based as we usually see bolognese presented as in the shops), so try to forget everything you know about chopped tomatoes
and soggy pasta 🙂
When you cooking the bolognese sauce, make sure you make more than one portion, after all it takes a while to make… So make a large batch, today’s recipe serves 10-12, and freeze what is left afterwards.
This isn’t a typical Scandinavian dish, but our cuisine is very much influenced by the rest of Europe and countries like Italy and France in particular. The one thing about this dish is that you can easily swap the beef with either moose, red deer or reindeer using either of them would just add to the great flavor of a classic bolognese.
The bolognese sauce should when finished be a concentrated wealth of different flavors. It both looks and tastes great.
All the best and “God apetitt”
Scandinavian Dad
Pasta Bolognese
Serves: 10 – 12
Cooking time: 2.5 – 6 hours
Preparation time: 30 – 45min
Ingredients
4 Carrots
4 Onions
3 Celery
3-4 Bay leafs
1 Star anise
500 g Beef (Preferably; finely chopped, or minced)
500 g Pork (Preferably; finely chopped, or minced)
250 g Pancetta (or smoked bacon)
Olive oil
White wine (Red wine can also be used)
Tomato pure (home made or canned)
1/3 l Cream (or Milk)
Stock
Salt & Pepper
Pappardelle or Tagliatelle
Method
- Start with chopping all the vegetables into small cubes (see image above)
- Finely chop the meats (if you are not using mined meat), slightly larger than the vegetables.
- You are not ready to start the cooking.
- Heat a large pan, add the Olive oil and then the chopped onions, cook gently for 6-7 min, and stir often.
- At the same time as you start cooking the vegetables, fry the meat in another large pan. You might have to fry the meat in multiple batches, depending on the size of your pan. It is important that you fry the meat, you want your meat to be nice and crisp on the outside.
- Add the carrots into the pan with the onions, cook for another 6-7 min.
- Then add the celery and leave it for another 5min. All the vegetables should now be soft. It is now time to for the meat.
- Mix the meat together with the vegetables
- Fry the pancetta, when done, add together with the rest of the meat and vegetables.
- Take the pan used for the meat, add a glass of white wine to deglaze the pan, this will free up all the flavors that are left in it. Boil briefly and make sure you get all the meat residue, mix it with the meat and vegetables.
- Add 3-4 spoons of tomato puree.
- Add another glass of white wine, and some stock.
- Add the bay leafs and the star anise (break it up, and put it in a small pouch)
- Add Salt and Pepper
- Bring to boil, and add some cream
- Turn down the heat, leave to simmer gently
- During the first hour, add some cream every 15 min
- Simmer for 2 – 6 hours, depending on what kind of meat you use and how much time you have. Stir occasionally.
- When you feel you are done with the bolognese, boil some water and cook the pasta.
- Final seasoning of the bolognese, add some salt and pepper if necessary. Remove the star anise and the bay leafs.
- Serve with grated Parmesan.