Bolognese sauce recipe
My family’s absolute favourite pasta dish, this Bolognese sauce is easy to make in bulk. I love dishes that are easy to make in bulk because then you don’t have to cook the next day. It is quick to warm up while you’re cooking some pasta to go with it. Whether you serve it with spaghetti, tagliatelle, penne, or fusilli pasta, this Bolognese sauce will be a treat.
Traditionally the Bolognese sauce is mainly made with meat, and the vegetables are only added for a bit of extra flavour. But these days, we all try to get in our 5 a day, so I like to add extra veggies into everything that I make. I also add garlic even though traditionally that is not done, and you can leave it out if you prefer. But my family and I love garlic, so we just put it in almost everything.
This recipe calls for carrots to be grated, but if you prefer the texture of finely diced carrots, of course, you can finely dice them. When I’m short on carrots, I will also replace up to half with some grated swede/rutabaga. I don’t like to replace more than half of the carrot amount with them because it can cause the sauce to be a bit flat tasting. But it works well enough that you don’t have to run to the store if you’re short on carrots. The same thing goes for the celery stalks, if I’m out of celery then I just leave them out and add a bit more grated carrot. It won’t taste as nice without the celery, but it is still very much delicious.
What is the best cheese to sprinkle on top?
Whatever cheese you like best. Of course, in Italy, they will most likely use Parmesan or a similar cheese, but you can just as easily use a cheese that is a bit more budget-friendly.
Melting or savoury
If you prefer your cheese to melt into the sauce and pasta, then you choose a young semi-hard cheese. Some examples are young Cheddars or Dutch cheeses like Gouda. These have a mild flavour and melt really well. Young cheeses tend to only mature for 2 to 3 months if not less, this ensures that there is a higher water content in them which allows for easier melting.
Or do you prefer your cheese to add a bit of extra savouriness? If that is the case then definitely go for an older Cheddar or older Dutch cheese. They tend to have a more savoury flavour and sometimes an almost nutty flavour, but they don’t melt as well as younger cheeses. They are left to mature for 6 months to a year and if you want an exceptionally tasty cheese you can get even older ones. Although, I would not grate them over my pasta Bolognese but would rather just cube some of it and eat as a little snack.
My two favourite types of cheeses
My two favourite types of cheese in the whole wide world are English cheddar and Dutch cheeses like Gouda. Both of these cheeses go back all the way to the 12th century, and even though most are factory-made nowadays. When you go to a proper cheesemonger you will be able to see all the different variations on these two giants in the cheese world. And if you ever get to try the proper farm-made cheese from the Netherlands you will be blown away by the flavour. But what else do you expect from a Dutch person, we all love cheese.
If you want to make another Italian meal then why not make a delicious pizza.
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Bolognese
Ingredients
- 500 ml tomato passata
- 250 gr beef mince
- 250 gr carrots grated
- 2 stalks celery
- 2 medium onions
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 stock cube vegetable, chicken or beef
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tbsp mixed herbs Italian
Instructions
- Dice the onion and mince the garlic then saute with a bit of oil in a pan for 5 minutes on low to medium heat.
- Add the beef mince to the pan and let the beef brown while stirring, on a medium heat for some 5 minutes.
- Dice the celery and grate or dice the carrots then add to the pan together with the tomato passata, bay leaf, stock cube and the mixed herbs.
- Bring to a boil and let simmer for at least 15 minutes but ideally an hour or two, for the longer it simmers the better the flavours mix.
- Serve with some freshly cooked pasta of choice, and some cheese grated on top.
