Saturday night I was home because we were travelling the next night so the boyfriend and I decided to stay in and enjoy a simple meal and a bottle of red. I had been dying to try out this spaghetti bolognese recipe that I found on the pioneer woman's website a while back and this was the perfect opportunity. For her step by step post click here, or you can follow mine here. I have to say though, that PWs photos are so much better. I live in a small apartment with many little natural light in the kitchen so photographing in there is hard! Before I give you the recipe, I just wanted to let you now that I made mine for 4, while PW made hers for 8. So mine is adapted a bit.
Spaghetti Bolognese
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
- 2-3 grated carrots.
- 1 red onion.
- 400 g ground beef.
- 2 tablespoons dried basil flakes.
- 2 tablespoons dried oregano flakes.
- 1 small can of tomato paste.
- 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced.
- 1 cup/ 2 dl red wine.
- 2 tablespoons of Worcestershire Sauce.
- 2 cans whole tomatoes.
- 1 cup/ 2 dl milk.
- Salt and Pepper.
- Cheese.
- Pasta.
- (1 can of mushrooms - Carina addition).
First add the oil to the kettle and let it warm on low-medium heat.
While the oil is heating grate the carrots and chop the onion. ( I only had yellow, but I would have used red if I had it).
When the oil is warm add the onion and carrots into the kettle.And cook it still on medium heat.
Blend it together.
After about three minutes the onion should be shiny and a bit orange from the carrots. Press the mixture opp to the sides to create space in the middle. The more space the better! Because now it's time to add the ground beef. Put in the middle and cook until it's brown.
When it's brown, gently mix it into the carrot and onion mix.
Add the basil and the oregano.
After mixing the spices in, press everything up against the sides again and add in the mushrooms here if you want them. Let them cook before blending them in. Since they weren't in the original recipe I forgot all about them! And mine were added towards the end.
Then make a new ditch add the tomato paste. Let it warm. It's very important to heat the tomato paste properly like this because it removes some of the metallic flavor that tomato paste has.When the paste it properly heated, add the garlic and stir it all inn.
It smells so good at this point - you have no idea!
Push everything up to sides and create a new well. Pour the wine in the well. Add the Worcestershire sauce to. Mix everything.
This is where I remember my mushrooms! I had completely forgot them since they weren't in the original recipe. Like I said before, if you want them add a well and cook them a bit before blending it in between the ground beef and the tomato paste. I went for whole mushrooms because I love that, but maybe sized would be better.
Create another ditch and add the canned tomatoes.
Stir in everything. My apartment smelled like an Italian restaurant at this point...
Add the milk.
Stir and it's ready! So nice and tasty.
Serve with pasta. Yes, I now this is the most boring pasta ever! I will do it again with some more effort on the pasta side. Promise!
And then I'll try to get some new photos as well, some better ones. These doesn't do the dish justice!
Thank you for this amazing recipe to the pioneer woman and her friend Ryan who taught it to her! Just typing this up makes me hungry for it all over again..
