10. Spaghetti Bolognese

Assalamu'alaikum WBT. It's been almost three weeks since my last post, and yes, it's been about three weeks since I last cooked for hubby – haven't cooked a *proper* meal per se. The previous attempt of making baked chicken and cream mushroom soup was not successful. Despite following exact measurement, they didn’t taste up to my expectation. If I were Jamie Oliver, I would’ve flung them out of the window :D

So this time I tried cooking a famous Italian dish, Spaghetti Bolognese, with the aim to improve again and again, until it tasted according to my liking (and my family’s of course).

To start off, just to share what bolognese means. Bolognese is a meat-based sauce mixed with tomato and it originates in Bologna, Italy. Like bolognese, other popular pasta sauces are carbonara, marinara, and alfredo – just to name a few. Each name signifies distinct basic ingredients: carbonara sauce consists of cheese, eggs, beef and black pepper; marinara consists of ripe tomatoes, tomato sauce, garlic and herbs; while alfredo contains butter, parmesan cheese and heavy cream. Over the years, people have been altering the sauce to suit to their liking but I like to think that the basic ingredients should be retained to conserve its natural ‘yummyness’. :)

A very good friend of mine recommended an authentic spaghetti bolognese recipe a couple of months ago. After 4 attempts of changing some of the ingredients measurement, I managed to pull it off! Here’s the recipe: (Serves 5)

Ingredients A:
½ pack of spaghetti (about 300g)
3 litres water

Ingredients B:
1 Holland onion
1 clove of garlic
1 carrot
1 green capsicum
200g of minced beef
200g of button mushroom
100g tomato purée
300g tomato soup
500ml of chicken stock (1 chicken cube diluted in 500ml of warm water)
100g Thai chilli sauce
4 heap tbsp of McCormick Italian Herbs Mix

1 pc bay leaf
4 tbsp oil (preferably olive oil)
2 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

2 tsp crushed black pepper

Method:
For bolognese:

1. Dice the onion, garlic, carrot and capsicum. Thinly slice the mushroom
2. Heat the oil under medium heat. Add the onion and stir for about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and stir well until they are slightly brownish. Put in carrot, capsicum, minced beef and stir for another 5 minutes. Add in the mushroom
3. Pour in the tomato purée, tomato soup, chicken stock, Thai chilli sauce, bay leaf and McCormick Italian Herbs Mix. You may add more Thai chilli sauce for a spicier sauce
4. Simmer for 45 minutes (until the sauce thickens) under low heat. Stir every 10 minutes to avoid burning. Lastly, add salt, sugar, and black pepper to taste

For spaghetti:

1. While waiting for the sauce to thicken, you can prepare the spaghetti
2. Boil 1 litre of water in a pot. Add the spaghetti with a pinch of salt and a dash of oil. Wait for 8-10 minutes until it is al dente (cooked, firm and not hard). Different brand of spaghetti requires different cooking time so please see the spaghetti packet for cooking instructions
3. When it is al dente, put it into a colander and rinse under COLD water. This is to stop the cooking process and to avoid them sticking to each other

Serving suggestion:
Serve the spaghetti on a plate. Pour the rich bolognese over it and garnish with grated parmesan cheese.

On another different note, next Monday will be 1 Muharam 1430 Hijrah, so lets not forget to recite Akhir Tahun Du'a and Awal Tahun Du'a.

Not Ever... Again!

Cooked cream mushroom soup and baked chicken for my husband last Sunday and I must say, it didn't taste as nice as what was written in the foodblog. I followed exact measurement but the soup turned out to be salty and the chicken was just... bland. Not worth sharing.