Spaghetti Bolognese
My daughter loves spaghetti bolognese. I make it for her every now and then. I make it using ground beef, ground turkey, ground chicken and other varieties of meat. I prepare it, following my recipe which is interchangeable using different meats. Depending on the meat that I use, I either brown up my meat first or an onion. The fattier the meat will determine which I brown up first. In the case when I use ground beef I will brown that up first. I will then drain off the excess fat and then brown up my onion and vegetables. When I use ground turkey I will brown up the onion first and then I will add the ground turkey. Browning up my meat like that allows me to control my fat in my finished product. I drain off the fat from higher fattier meats. When using ground turkey it is so lean that the turkey needs the oil from the onions to get brown without burning. I then add minced garlic, chopped carrots and in many cases I add other vegetables that I might have in the fridge. I then add chopped or whole tomatoes and a variety of spices. Once I bring that up to a boil and a simmer I add wine and some type of cream. I usually use half and half. When I make this sauce I usually have half and half in the house. There have been occasions that I have added milk or coffee creamer when that is all that I have on hand. Believe it or not the coffee creamer (usually a flavored coffee creamer- french vanilla) adds a sweetness to the sauce. In this dish I find that I like a red wine over a white wine. The red wine adds a bolder flavor to the sauce. I like using maderia in this sauce. If I do not have any red wine at home I will use white wine. I serve it over angel hair pasta, which is my daughter’s favorite type of pasta. If I don’t have angel hair pasta, any pasta will do. I love making this sauce. It is thick. It clings to the pasta. It is a very hearty sauce that is very comforting. I like to prepare this dish on a cold winter night or on a rainy night during the warmer months of the year. When my daughter was in the hospital and the rehab, she ordered spaghetti bolognese from the menu in both the hospital and the rehab. Both places prepared it. However the results left my daughter disappointed. When my daughter was in rehab I ordered it from two restaurants in the area. The first one was more of a mushroom sauce, and my daughter did not enjoy it. It was very heavy, which had to much cream for her taste. The second restaurant came to us in the form of an oily meat sauce. The sauce did not adhere to the pasta and if it had any cream, it was undetectable. After our experiments on delivery services on pasta bolognese, it was decided it would be best if we wait until we get home and I would prepare it for her. Since my daughters discharge happened to occur during the week of Passover, the spaghetti bolognese will wait a few more days, and I promise to write up the recipe and a thorough critique from my daughter on my bolognese sauce. Stay safe my fans and Bon Appetit.