Every professional chef I know has a massive list of go-to recipes. Some of us have them memorized, others write them down in a book or on their computer, and no doubt there are chefs out there who never really make the same meal twice. Personally, I like to have my go-to recipes memorized. I'm not great at keeping track of things, so if I did write down my favorite easy dinner recipe, I'm sure I'd just lose it.
Rather than keeping all my favorite dinners locked up in my head, I've decided to use this blog to occasionally write down the ingredients, the cooking process, and anything else a chef may need to re-create them. Not every post on my blog will be about food - I have many other passions - but the purpose of this blog is basically to create a physical collection of meals I love to cook and use often with my clients.
My favorite quick and delicious dinner happens to be the classic spaghetti bolognese. It doesn't hurt that the family I currently work for are wild about this dish, so I get to make it quite often.
You can find easy to make spaghetti bolognese recipes all over the Internet - it isn't a complicated meal. In fact, Italian cuisine is probably the easiest to make no matter what level of kitchen skills you have. Italian food is all about simplicity: quality ingredients handled with care and matched to make a perfect harmony of flavor and aroma.
Here's my own personal spaghetti bolognese recipe. This isn't a strict set of instructions; in fact, you're probably better off tailoring this dish to your own tastes or to what ingredients are available to you.
This version of the classic spaghetti dish serves between 6 and 8 people.
Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 ounces diced pancetta bacon
1 chopped yellow onions
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup diced celery
minced garlic to taste
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 pound ground veal (or ground beef, if you prefer)
1/2 pound of pork sausage removed from the casing
2-3 tablespoons tomato paste
1-2 cups red wine
2 big cans of crushed tomatoes with juice
1 cup chicken stock
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
unsalted butter
chopped parsley leaves (the fresher the better)
1 pound spaghetti noodles
Parmesan (grated fresh is best)
Putting It All Together
Start by heating oil in a big pot, medium heat. Add your diced bacon and cook it until the fat is rendered.
Add your onions, carrots, and celery and cook, stirring often, until the veg is soft, which should only take about 4 or 5 minutes.
Next, throw in your garlic, salt, pepper, thyme, oregano, cinnamon, and nutmeg and enjoy the amazing aroma. You only want to let this cook for about 30 seconds before you throw in your meats - veal, beef, sausage, or whatever you prefer. You want to cook the meat until it isn't pink anymore - that should take about 5 minutes.
Now it's time to add your tomato paste and be sure to stir it well for a minute or two. Now my favorite part - add the wine (and drink a cup yourself!) and keep cooking and stirring. The idea is to deglaze the pan and get the delicious browned bits of bacon and deliciousness that may have stuck to the bottom of the pan.
Cook this down until it's half-gone . . . which should only take a couple of minutes..
Now it's time to throw in your tomatoes, your broth, and your sugar and bring the whole thing to a boil.
Once your sauce has reached the boiling point, bring the heat down to medium-low and let it simmer, stirring it from time to time to keep it from sticking or burning. This part takes about an hour and a half.
Once the sauce has cooked for at least 90 minutes, it's time to add your cream, butter, and parsley, stir it all up, and let it simmer again for a couple of minutes. Now it's time to adjust your seasoning. The sauce is complete! Remove it from the heat, but keep it warm and covered until you're ready to serve.
Make your pasta according to the directions - the trick is to make the water VERY salty.
If you want to serve it traditional-style, the way Italians eat it, you add your al dente noodles directly to the sauce, so the noodles can soak up a little of your delicious bolognese sauce.
You can pair this dish with whatever wine you like. Personally, I would choose a dry Italian white wine like Verdicchio. The reason a white wine works here is the creaminess and buttery flavor of the sauce. Trust me - this pairing is to die for.
