Spaghetti Bolognese

This Sunday is all about keeping it easy. It's 3 days out from Christmas and I was out last night with a friend who's in town from London, so I'm zonked. Also, I wanted to make something I could throw into the food processor for my 11 month old to try. 

In the interest of keeping things easy, I'll get right to it. This recipe is Jamie Oliver. I love him, really and truly. He changed the way I felt about cooking. Cook was the first cookbook I ever cooked from and I still read it from cover to cover sometimes, just because. This one is from Jamie's Food Revolution.

Bolognese Sauce

Serves 4-6

2 slices of smoked bacon, preferably free-range or organic (I use about 8 medium pieces of streaky bacon)
2 medium onions
2 cloves of garlic
2 carrots
2 celery stalks
olive oil
2 heaped teaspoons dried oregano
1 pound good-quality ground beef, pork, or (even better!) a mixture of the two
2 x 14-ounce cans of diced tomatoes
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
a small bunch of fresh basil
4 ounces Parmesan cheese
1 pound dried spaghetti or penne

To make your sauce :

Finely slice the bacon. 

Peel and finely chop the onions, garlic, carrots, and celery - don't worry about technique, just chop away until fine.

Place a large casserole-type pan on a medium to high heat. Add 2 lugs of olive oil, your sliced bacon, and the oregano and cook and stir until the bacon is lightly golden. Add the vegetables to the pan and stir every 30 seconds for around 7 minutes or until softened and lightly colored.

Stir in the ground meat and the canned tomatoes. Fill one of the empty cans with water and add to the pan. Stir in a good pinch of salt and pepper.

Pick the basil leaves and place in the refrigerator for later. Finely chop the basil stalks and stir into the pan.

Bring to a boil. Turn the heat down and simmer with the lid slightly askew for 1 hour; stirrring every now and then.

Take the lid off and cook for another 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Keep an eye on the sauce as it cooks, and if you think it's starting to dry out, add a splash of water.

Remove the Bolognese sauce from the heat. Finely grate the Parmesan and stir half into the sauce.

Tear and stir in any larger basil leaves, keeping the smaller ones for sprinkling over before serving. Mix up, have a taste, and season with a little more salt and pepper if needed - congratulations! You now have a beautiful Bolognese sauce. At this stage you can allow it to cool, bag it up and freeze it, or eat it straightaway with the pasta below.

To cook your pasta and serve :

Bring a large pan of salted water to a boil. Add your pasta and stir, following the package cooking times - don't let it cook any longer or it will become too soft - you want it to have a bit of bite. Saving a little of the cooking times, drain the pasta in a colander. Put the drained pasta back into the pan. Add half the Bolognese sauce to the cooked pasta and mix well, adding a little of the reserved cooking water to loosen. Divide between your plates and spoon the remaining sauce over the top. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle over the rest of the Parmesan, and scatter with the small basil leaves - bellissima!

This is a very good bolognese sauce recipe. Simple, but reliable. 

My Funday notes:

1. I used extra bacon. I always use extra bacon in any recipe. Also garlic and cheese. Seriously you can never have too much bacon, garlic or cheese. Write this down. It's important.

2. He says to add 28 oz of water to the recipe. I always find his dishes to be a bit too watery, so I only added 14 oz. Even this was a bit watery, I might even add a bit less next time.

See you next week, the last Funday of 2012!