Spaghetti Bolognese

Spaghetti Bolognese

1 small carrot
1 thin stalk of celery
1 ounce marbled, smoked ham
1 small onion
1 clove garlic
2 tsp. butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
5 ounces ground beef
1 can peeled tomatoes (8.5 ounces dry weight)
2.5 ounces red wine
2.5 ounces beef stock
1/2 tsp dried italian seasoning
salt, black pepper
7 ounces spaghetti
2-3 Tbsp freshly grated parmesan

1. peel the carrots, wash the celery, and dice them both very small. Also cut the ham into small cubes. Peel the onion and garlic and mince both.

2. heat butter and oil in a large skillet. Add the ham, vegetables, onion, and garlic and lightly sweat them for 3 minutes. Mix in ground beef and cook together until it is brown and crumbly, stirring occasionally.

3. Add the tomatoes with juice, wine and stock. Use and spoon to crush the tomatoes in the pan. Add the italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Allow to stew for 1 hour on low heat.

4. About 30 minutes before the stewing is finished, boil 2 quarts of water and salt heavily. Add the spaghetti and cook according to package instructions. Taste the sauce again and season accordingly. Drain the noodles then mix them with the Bolognese sauce and serve in deep dishes. Garnish with parmesan and serve immediately.

* Tuning Tip: At the end of the cooking time for the sauce, add 2-3 Tbsp of cream and leave to cook for another 10 minutes. You can also double this recipe and use for the base of a lasagne.

Blogger's note: These measurements are approximate. I'm not an expert at metric conversions.

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This is a recipe I found in a great book I bought in Berlin. It's called "Crashkurs Kochen" or "Crash Course Cooking". It provides the basics, albeit German basics, for a lot of areas of cooking that are foreign to people like myself. Knowing this, some of the more basic instructions above, become a little more understandable. The author assumes you don't know how to brown hamburger or clean a celery stalk. Personally, I think giving instructions on celery is a bit too far, but I understand where the author is coming from.

I've had this book for over a year, and I'm yet to make this recipe as it is supposed to be made. I'm always changing something, or lacking that ounce of ham. This last time, though, we came closer than I have ever gotten to actually following the recipe. We used ground turkey instead beef, and we were missing the ham and the carrot.

I love this recipe. It's hearty, it's homemade and it reminds me of Germany. I don't know much about whether this recipe might be authentically Italian, but I can tell you that when Germans think spaghetti, this is what they are thinking of. It's a dish that can be had cheaply at restaurants all over the country, which makes it even better!!