I am well aware that Spaghetti Bolognese is not a traditional German dish. However, it is a very typical dish in Germany and loved by young and old.
I basically grew up on Spaghetti Bolognese, having it once a week. It is a quickly made, filling, and cheap meal that everyone likes. While today people end to by the ready made sauce in a glass, many have forgotten how to make it from scratch. And while just buying it, is much more convenient, I personally prefer to have control over the ingredients, especially the quality of the meat that is in my sauce.
Video Spaghetti Bolognese
The Meat
In Germany, we are using a mixed ground meat, made from 50% pork and 50% beef. I like the taste of that but here in Texas this is not available and I would have to grind my meat myself in order to have it. I rarely do that. When I cook a pasta meal, it usually means that I am short of time and things have to go fast.
The Vegetables
Same as with the meat: It has to be fast and easy and that is why I am using canned tomatoes. But you could of course use fresh tomatoes instead. Also, in summer, I am using fresh herbs. But add fresh Basil at last, right before you serve the sauce!
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Spaghetti Bolognese
Ingredients
- 1 small Onion, cubed
- 70 g Carrot, cubed
- ½ Parsley Root or alternatively Parsnip; cubed
- 1 stick Cellery, cubed
- 500 g ground beef
- 2 Tbsp. Tomato Paste
- 250 g diced Tomatoes with the sauce (can)
- some Oil
- some Salt
- some Pepper
- ⅛ l red Wine
- ⅛ l Beef Broth
- 1 Tbsp. Parsley
- 1 Tbsp. Thyme
- 1 Tbsp. Basil
Instructions
- In a large pan, heat the oil.
- Add the ground beef and fry until it falls apart.
- Now add the onions, the carrots, parsnip (or parsley root), celery, and the tomato paste and continue to saute for a few minutes.
- Next, add the tomatoes and their sauce, then the wine and broth.
- Spice with some salt and pepper and the herbs and let cook on low temperature with a lid for 50 minutes.
- About 20 minutes before the sauce is finished, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the Spaghetti and cook untio "al dente".
- After 50 minutes spice the bolognse sauce to your taste, maybe add some Italian herbs or paprika.
- Use some of the boiling water from the spaghetti and add it to the sauce if there is not much liquid left.
- Add the boiled spaghetti to the sauce, mix and serve!
This is nothing like the spag.bol. that my neighbours used to cook for me when I lived in Dortmund in Deutschland, use a large onion, a couple of chopped cloves of garlic and cook them a bit to sweeten the flavours before adding the mince. Only use oregano and basil and possibly a bay leaf as the herbs. Don;t use water from the cooking spaghetti because it is way too salty if you are cooking it properly, because you cook it in salted water so it doesn’t go soggy and then rinse it after cooking.
Sorry, John, but I have to politely disagree with the spaghetti water. Yes, it is salty – but not too salty to add some to the sauce.
Every Italian will tell you to never rinse the pasta. The coat of starch on the pasta is important to make the sauce stick to it. If your pasta is soggy, I think you might be cooking it too long. Try taking it out earlier. My daughter was filming with an Italian director a while back. He cooked for the cast and crew spaghetti with a sauce that I still dream of. He let me in on some secrets ;-)
Please give the tips he gave. Thank you?