The authentic Bolognese sauce is made with pieces of meat and cream!! Well that’s what Yiayia says… Here’s the recipe she gave me…. believe you me I was watching with interest.
What you need:-
750 gr. minced beef
2 onions, finely chopped
1 sc. garlic, finely chopped
6 tbsp. olive oil … Zakynthian olive oil, nothing but the best
1 tbsp. granulated sugar (optional if you do not use fresh tomatoes)
1 tbsp. thyme, dried
2 tbsp. tomato paste
400 gr. pulped fresh tomato ….. the best type we call “bournela” (Μπουρνέλα)
100 ml red wine …. keep a little in the bottle for later to serve at the table.
200 ml of water
1 chicken cube stock
1 cinnamon stick
2 bay leaves
3 grains of allspice
500 gr. spaghetti
100 ml cream 35%
parmesan, grated, for serving
Add 1 tbsp. olive oil to a pan.
Add a ¼ of the minced meat, breaking it up with a fork. Saute until caramelized and colored on the outside (we do not want it to be cooked completely).
Remove the minced meat from the pan with a slotted spoon, put it in a bowl and repeat the same process three more times with the rest of the minced meat (if we add all the minced meat directly it will not caramelize nicely).
In the same pan and without cleaning it, add the rest of the olive oil, the onions, the garlic, the sugar, the dried thyme and let the onion caramelize for at least 4-5 minutes.
Then add the minced meat, the tomato pulp and stir it altogether
Quench with the wine….. oooh I love this bit, It just smells divine….let the alcohol evaporate completely.
Once the alcohol has evaporated, add the water, the chicken stock cube, the cinnamon stick, the bay leaves, the spices and the tomato paste.
Lower the heat, stir and simmer for at least 10 minutes.
While the minced meat was cooking, Yiayia prepared the pasta.
In a saucepan with plenty of boiling salted water, add the spaghetti.
Boil according to the instructions on the package, minus one minute. We want our spaghetti to be al dente.
Once our pasta is ready, remove from the heat, strain it and set aside.
Once our sauce has set, add the cream, stir and turn off the heat.
Serve the spaghetti with the minced meat sauce on top, sprinkle with fresh parmesan, basil and plenty of fresh pepper.
Photos :-pinterest.com