Christmas spiced spaghetti bolognese
Serves 4
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 1½ hours
I have used a mix of meat here which makes it feel a little less rich but feel free to use any combination - or all beef. This would also work with game if you like game.
Ingredients
300g beef mince *
300g pork mince *
300g veal mince *
2 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, 2 carrots and 2 sticks celery, finely chopped or 500g fresh or frozen ready cut soffritto
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
500ml white wine
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
8 cloves
400g tin crushed tomatoes
200g tomato puree
1 tsp mixed Italian herbs
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp sugar
Parmesan - either rind or 1 tbsp Parmesan plus extra to serve
500g dried spaghetti
Salt
Pepper
* I like to buy steak, chunk it up and mince it myself because you can put the exact amount of fat you want and you can pick whatever meat you like the look of the most and, the thing I like the most, there is never any risk of getting gristle.
Method
If you are mincing your own meat then cut the meat into chunks and season with salt, pepper and the herbs before you mince it.
Put 1 tbsp oil in a wok or frying pan and cook the mince until brown - expect this to take 15-20 minutes. You want to cook it until all of the juice that has come out of the meat has almost disappeared. Put the meat into a dish to one side and without washing out the pan add the remaining tbsp of olive oil and the onion and cook for a few minutes until translucent, add the garlic and continue to cook for a few minutes. Add the nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves and stir through. Leave the onions cooking and return the meat to the pan and cook for a couple of minutes. The meat will be browning and caramelising on the bottom.
Add the wine and scrape the caramelised bits from the bottom. Cook for a few minutes until the liquid has almost gone and add the tomato purée. Mix well and cook for a few minutes - this is to remove the raw tomato taste. Add the tins of tomatoes, herbs, stock pot and sugar. Mix thoroughly, add your Parmesan and cook on a medium heat for at least an hour until it has reduced.
10 minutes or so before serving bring a large pan of water to the boil and cook your spaghetti according to the packet instructions.
Remove the parmesan rind, drain the pasta and put the pasta into the sauce, with tongs thoroughly mix through. Serve with Parmesan over the top.