spaghetti bolognese

(Date: 29 January 2013)

The 19th recipe in 2013, the 9th from Nigel Slater's. Original recipe is "A really good spaghetti bolognese" from Nigel Slater's The Kitchen Diaries. I think the title somehow has unnecessarily raised my expectation. While I think it's good -- indeed very good, I am a bit reluctant to say it's really really good.

What I used:

50g butter

80g pancetta

1 onion, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 carrot, finely chopped

2 celery stalks, finely chopped

2 large portebello mushrooms, finely chopped

2 bay leaves

400g minced beef

200ml whole milk

220ml passata

200ml red wine

1 tsp chicken stock

pinch freshly ground nutmeg

spaghetti for 4 (allow about 70-90g of dried weight for each person),

What I did:

Melt the butter in a heavy-based pan, then stir in the pancetta and let it cook for 4-5 minutes, without colouring much. / Add the onion, garlic, carrot, celery, mushrooms and bay leaves, stirring well. / Leave to cook for 8-10 minutes over a medium heat, stirring frequently, until the vegetables are tender. / Turn up the heat and tip in the minced beef, breaking it up well with a wooden spoon. / Leave to cook without stirring for 3-4 minutes, or until the bottom is browned, then stir again and cook for a further 3-4 minutes, or until golden-brown all over and cooked through. / Pour in the milk a bit at a time, then mix in the tomatoes, red wine, vegetable stock, nutmeg and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. / Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer. / Partially cover the pan with a lid and leave to simmer for 1 hour 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. / Cook spaghetti according to packet instruction, served with bolognese.

What I felt: I think it tastes GREAT. It is not in the same league as the usual bolognese recipes just asking you briefly cook the mince with crushed tomatoes with a spash of wine. The slow-cooking really makes a huge difference. Taste-wise, I can't accolade enough. However I got a little problem. The Bolognese is a bit too watery. It feels more like a soup than a sauce. And I have already omitted 200ml of vegetable stock from the original recipe -- because after trying out a few Nigel Slater's recipes, I got a feeling that most of his sauce recipes tend to be very watery and took me at least an extra 15-30 minutes before I can reduce it into a sauce that I'd love to pour over meat, vegetable or pasta. Yet this time the reduction of 200ml didn't seem to be enough.

How good was it? 8/10. As I said, it tastes great. But I don't like my sauce to be that watery. If I made it again I'd reduce remove the lid completely for a more significant reduction during the last 30 minutes of cooking.

How easy was it? 6/10. It's not difficult. But look at the list. Half of them need to be finely chopped. It's killing my arms. Of course it'd be a very different story if you're lucky enough to own a food processor to do all the nasty slice & chop for you -- no, usually I won't use "nasty" to describe chopping ingredients. I find it therapeutic most of the time. But too much of it just drove me nuts.

How economical was it? Not too economical. But it's difficult to work out the overall price as some of the ingredients (like celeries, carrots, red wine) were all bought in a bag and this recipe only uses very little of it. One thing I'd love to point out is... I found it unnecessary to use large mushrooms which are usually pricier. They are all finely chopped anyway. I'd have bought the cheaper chestnut mushrooms or baby portebello instead should I have read the cooking instruction earlier.

Will I make this again? Hum. Maybe. But I'd probably triple the recipe, make it for 12 and freeze it all in little Lock&Lock boxes. It'll make wonderful lunch or emergency dinner, but spending 3 hours to make it only for 4 is a bit too much of hassles.