Bolognese Sauce

So it comes to that time of day again. I'm standing in front of the freezer wondering which meat to defrost, and what to do with it. So I decided that I want to try another recipe. So I bust out my veggies and get dicing, then i hit the store and get anything I don't have. I decided today I'm going to experiment with my first sauce, something that isn't just a regular tomato sauce. So I decided, after some recipe searches, to make a variation of a Bolognese sauce.

Bolognese Sauce

• extra virgin olive oil


• 1 med onion chopped finely


• 2 stalks of celery chopped finely


• 2 carrots chopped finely


• 4 cloves garlic minced


• 1 cup mushrooms chopped finely


• 1 lbs extra lean ground beef


• 1 lbs lean ground veal


• 1 cup of white wine (pinot grigio works well.. Something dry)


• 14 oz crushed peeled tomatoes


• 1 quart of chicken stock


• dash of cayenne


• 1 tsp curry powder


• 1 tsp dried oregano (or tbsp fresh)


• 1 tsp dried basil (or tbsp fresh)


• 1 cup table cream ( I used 18% m.f.)

start by heating up a big pot with the olive oil. Toss in your onions, celery, garlic, carrots and cook for about 10 minutes on medium heat.
Raise the heat a little and add your meats, cook it until its no longer pink.
Add the white wine and simmer until the wine evaporates. This could take a while.
Add the tomatoes, and the chicken stock, the cayenne, curry powder and some salt and pepper to taste, add basil and oregano.
At this point it gets easy. Lower the heat and simmer for around 2-3 hrs until its thickened.
Once its thickened up add the cream and simmer for another 20 or so minutes.

So.. Delicious.  My 1 year old is doing laps around the rooms acting like my wooden spoon is a lollipop! My husband set aside a container full for tomorrows work lunch before he was even finished his dinner.

Spicy Cherry Tomato and Pesto Spaghetti

Pasta is a way of life.   Pasta is possibly the only food you can buy for ridiculously cheap and feed an entire family with.  It maintains ridiculously well, it cooks nice and easy, and you can make virtually millions of versions of the same dish.  Also, when I run out of groceries,  its the first (and only) thing that I reach for.   This happened to me not to long ago, during a week we were rather tight pocketed and I was at a loss on what I could make to nourish my babies, and have them actually want to eat it.   So I thew together a tiny inventory, and reached for my spaghetti.   This is what I came up with and I absolutely loved it!  I actually thought I entered this here awhile ago since i'm making it again tonight but turns out I did not.  To the recipe!

Spicy Cherry Tomato and Pesto Spaghetti

• 2 cups of Cherry or grape  tomatoes, halved


• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced


• 1 tsp hot pepper flakes (use less if you prefer less spicy, or none at all if you dislike spicy.)


• 1 - 2 tsp dried oregano (or 2 - 3 tsp fresh oregano)


• 3 tbsp chopped parsley (from my garden. Woohoo!)


• 3 tbsp chopped basil  (or more)


• 4-5 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil


• spaghetti


• Pesto sauce (I just use that from a jar)

Boil your pasta in a nice pot of briny water.  A pasta water should taste like a nice day at the beach (near the ocean.. obviously haha).   While your doing this, heat up the olive oil in a pan with the garlic and hot pepper flakes.  Let the garlic cook for a bit.    When cooking things in oil on the stove, you have to make sure that you get the pan super hot before putting the food in.   If you put cold food in to a cold pan the food absorbs all the oil and everything will just taste like oil. Once thats softened and cooked a bit pop in the tomatoes, let them cook for a minute or two before adding the herbs.   Cook that down until the tomatoes are cooked through, soft and wrinkly.   When that's done, just wait for the pasta to finish, if its already finished obviously drain it, and put in 1 - 2 spoons of pesto sauce, depending on your taste.  Stir those up, and then toss in the cherry tomatoes mix.

Each cherry tomato just pops in your mouth.  It is a flavour and experience I have neglected to give myself growing up when my mothers garden yielded seeming mountains of them every summer.  My mother would never cook them, and to this day I still can't manage to eat an uncooked tomato.   You can refrigerate any leftovers, my husband loves taking them to work so he can show his colleagues that he doesn't have to eat sandwiches every day.

I will edit this entry with a photograph once I take one tonight.   I'm also in the market for a smaller personal camera.  The one I use now is amazing, it is the photographic love of my life, but it is to valued, expensive, big and precious for me to want to haul it around for my various exploits.  I have a few leads, be patient.   I'm also soon to update my newest regular recipe.  The Esmeq Zucchini bread supreme! No fail, and when stale, tastes like gingerbread.  Delicious.