Prince William’s Spaghetti Bolognaise

 

Have you ever wondered how the Princess of Wales manages to stay so thin, or, for that matter how the entirety of the royal family retain their youthful figures? I have the answer: the cuisine. I recently came across a recipe for Prince William’s bolognaise sauce, the one that he used to woo the former Kate Middleton. It was unique to my experience as it contained both wine and milk, as well as nutmeg. Over the weekend, I made the sauce, and what I learned was that, despite the wine, milk, and nutmeg, what it didn’t contain was flavor. It was all right, I suppose, but nothing to write home about, and you probably wouldn’t dream of asking for seconds. I will say that I loved the additions of the vegetables (that I sometimes add, sometimes don’t), as well as the wine and milk; the texture was lovely. I’m also well aware that the Royal Family does not indulge in garlic in any form, and I understand that, and consequently was willing to forego that for the sake of experimentation. Ultimately, though, I opted for taste. To HRH’s recipe I added:

 ¼ t. Montreal Steak seasoning

½ t. dried basil

1 t. Italian seasoning

1 T. Melissa’s minced garlic

 With these additions, it was downright tasty. Because I tasted throughout the three-hour simmer time, I ended up not adding these until the final hour. So, if you would like to try Prince William‘s recipe, as is, knowing that if you don’t care for it, all is not lost, give it a go.

Prince William’s Spaghetti Bolognaise

As seen on Women&Home.com

(Serves four)

Ingredients:

1 T. olive oil

1 T. (30g) butter

1 large onion, finely chopped

1 carrot, scrubbed and chopped

2 sticks of celery, chopped

12 oz. (350g) best quality lean beef

8 oz. (250ml) dry white wine

4 oz. (120ml) milk

Pinch of nutmeg, freshly ground

1 14.5-oz. can (400g) Italian chopped tomatoes

1 t. tomato purée

8 oz. (250g) spaghetti or bucatini

1/4 c. (50g) Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

2 T. freshly chopped flat-leaf parsley, salt and freshly ground black pepper

 Method:

To make the sauce, heat the oil and butter in a large saucepan and fry the onion over a medium heat until just softened, then add the carrot and celery and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring.

 Use a fork to crumble the mince and add that to the pan, stirring to mix all together. Cook until the meat is no longer pink but do not let it brown. Pour in the wine and continue cooking until it has all evaporated. Then turn down the heat and stir in the milk and nutmeg, and cook over a medium heat until the milk has evaporated. Stir through the tomatoes and purée then season to taste with salt and pepper. Simmer very, very gently, uncovered, for about three hours, stirring from time to time.

 When your sauce is ready, bring a big pot of water to the boil and add a teaspoon of salt. Add the pasta to the water, stir well with a wooden spoon and cook as per the packet instructions. Drain well. Divide the pasta between four bowls and add the hot sauce to each serving. Sprinkle with the parsley and serve the Parmesan in a small dish.

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Slow Cooker Pasta Sauce (That Your Italian Grandmother Would Love)

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 I feel fairly confident that you have never had a spaghetti sauce made quite like this before. Here’s what happened: I had a craving for meatloaf, so I pulled out a favorite recipe and made one. It was very tasty and I enjoyed it for a couple of days, and then, quite frankly, I’d had enough. I thought about cutting it into slices, wrapping each slice in plastic wrap, putting those slices into a gallon Ziploc freezer bag, and putting them into freezer, but as I have no doubt mentioned to you in the past, it is like playing a game of freezer Jenga every time I attempt to add something new. My goal is to take things out of the freezer, not to put things in. That freezer, that wonderful, magnificent freezer, that I bought in 1979 is still (knock on wood) working. That was back in the day when appliances were worth the money you paid for them. I was freshly out of college, living on my own, and that was one of my first major purchases. Sure, other college kids were buying furniture, I figured that I could sit on the floor, a freezer was what I wanted. But, as freezers tended to be back in the day, it wasn’t frost-free. Defrosting that freezer is something that I have not done since I moved into this house nine years ago. Now do you understand why it looks like the Arctic north? But I digress.

Where am I going with this, you ask yourself, well, I’ll tell you. I went from craving meatloaf to craving a good spaghetti sauce. I had Italian sausage that I could use and indeed, I had a couple of pounds of frozen ground chuck, but as I looked at that meatloaf from the other day, I thought, why not just cut it up into tiny little cubes and use it in the meat sauce, so I did. It was excellent! Because there was so much flavor in the meatloaf itself, I think that imparted an additional flavoring into the sauce. Now, all of this said, I’m not suggesting that you make a meatloaf and cut it up. Go ahead and, as listed in the recipe below, use ground chuck. This is a good sauce whether you make it the way I did with the meatloaf or not, but keep in mind that leftovers have many uses. More than you might think. Be creative. Always.

 

Slow Cooker Pasta Sauce

(That Your Italian Grandmother Would Love)

1 lb. sweet or spicy* Italian sausage, sliced 
1 lb. ground chuck

2 Melissa’s shallots, minced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 c. minced fresh parsley

1 28-oz. can crushed tomatoes

1 14.5 oz. can tomato sauce

2 6-oz. cans tomato paste

½ c. red wine**

2 T. sugar

1½ t. dried basil

½ t. fennel seed

1 t. Italian seasoning 

1 bay leaf

½ t. oregano

½ t. salt

¼ t. freshly ground black pepper

½ t. Montreal steak seasoning

 

In a 10- to 12-inch sauté pan over medium heat, cook sausage and beef until browned; drain on paper-towel-lined plate. Once drained, add it, and the rest of the ingredients to a 6-quart crockpot, give it a mighty stir, and cook on high for four hours.

 Mangia!

 *I like food with a bit of zing, so I used spicy sausage, use what your family likes.

**If you don’t have red wine, use coffee or beef stock. In the name of all things holy, do NOT use water! Water has no taste. It will add nothing to your delicious homemade sauce.

 

 

Fresh Tomato Marinara Sauce

I do a lot of cooking, as you all know, and I grow a lot of vegetables. Despite both of these facts, I have never made fresh tomato marinara sauce. Having now done just that, I will never use the jarred variety again as long as fresh tomatoes are at hand.

Whereas previously I was wondering how on earth I was going to use up all of these tomatoes, I am now wondering if I’m going to have enough. I will be stocking the freezer with this wonderful sauce, and if you can get your hands on some fresh tomatoes, you should too. It is magnificent!

Fresh Tomato Marinara Sauce

3 T. olive oil
1 3-oz. pkg. Melissa’s shallots
12 Roma (or medium tomatoes), peeled* and quartered
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
½ c. good red wine
1 T. dark brown sugar
½ c. packed fresh basil
1 t. dried oregano
1 t. dried marjoram
1 t. kosher salt
Few gratings freshly ground black pepper
¼ t. fennel seed
Pinch crushed red pepper
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, more or less to taste

Heat olive oil in a medium stock pot over medium heat. Sauté shallots in oil until softened, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, garlic, and bay leaf. Bring to a simmer, and simmer until tomatoes are softened, about 30 minutes

Place wine, brown sugar, basil, oregano, marjoram, salt, black pepper, fennel seed, and crushed red pepper into a small food processor. Pulse until blended. Add to tomato mixture, bring to a simmer, and cook another 30 minutes longer. Remove from heat, whisk in balsamic vinegar.

*To peel tomatoes, remove core and cut an “X” in bottom. Immerse into boiling water for 30 seconds. Remove to a bowl of ice water. Turn upside down and peel at “X.” The skin will come right off.

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Serve with your favorite pasta. This sauce turned pre-made cannelloni into Food for the Gods!

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Slow Cooker Bolognese Sauce

I love a good Bolognese, and for years I was treated to one as, in addition to being the major fish cooker in the house, Mr. O.P. was also master of the Bolognese. He'd collected, over the years, that old Time Life Treasury of Great Recipes"series of books, each set of which came with one hard bound book telling about the cuisine of the featured country, along with a smaller, spiral bound book of recipes. He would spend an entire day making sauce (largely, I think, because he was easily distracted during his course of duty, and also because he was the slowest vegetable dicer I think I've ever seen). At day's end, though, we were rewarded with a restaurant-quality sauce to enjoy (and massive cleanup, all of which was done by me because of that damnable rule we'd put into place when we'd first married about “one cooks, the other cleans”). And when I talk massive, I'm not just kidding around. The sauce was made in a large batch in a stock pot the size of a hot tub. It simmered all day long, tiny bubbles of red sauce exploding at the top, sending little specks of red sauce all over the top of the stove, all over the nearby cabinets, running down the side of the stove, and all over the floor. The last time I cleaned up this mess I swore that Paul Newman was the man for me, and embraced his Sockarooni Sauce not long after.

Then along came this crockpot Bolognese, and I had to give it a try. Now, generally, crockpot recipes are quick and easy. This one is indeed easy, but not at all quick as you might imagine as there is a boatload of chopping before everything can be put together. But once that is accomplished, and all ingredients are safely contained in the crock, beneath a splatter-saving lid, all you have to do is go about your day for the next six hours as the sauce slowly becomes delicious.

I used my medium-sized, 4-quart slow cooker for this recipe. Feel free to double or triple if you want a lot of sauce, increasing the size of your crockpot in the process. Bear in mind that for things to cook properly, the crockpot needs to be 2/3s full and no more.

Buono Appetito!

Slow Cooker Bolognese Sauce

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 onion, diced fine

2 celery ribs, diced fine

1 medium carrot, diced fine

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 pound ground chuck

1 teaspoon kosher salt

2 teaspoons sugar

2 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

1 bay leaf

1/2 cup red wine

1 (28-oz.) can crushed tomatoes

1/3 cup heavy cream

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat olive oil and saute onion, celery, and carrot, and until tender. Add garlic and tomato paste stirring constantly for 30 seconds. Transfer to a 4-qt. slow cooker.

In the same pan vacated by the vegetables, brown beef; drain. Return beef to pan and stir in kosher salt and seasonings. Stir in wine, and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, 7 minutes or until almost all liquid has evaporated. Add to slow cooker with tomatoes and stir to combine.

Cover and cook on LOW 6-8 hours. Stir in cream. Check sauce; it should be thick and creamy. (If a thicker sauce is desired uncover and cook 30 more minutes.) Discard bay leaf.

Serve atop the pasta of your choice.

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 This post is linked to:

Dream, Create, Inspire Tuesday

Inspire Me Tuesday

Tuesdays At Our Home

Tweak it Tuesday

Tickle my Tastebuds
Two Cup Tuesday
Wow Us Wednesday
Work It Wednesday

Wine’d Down Wednesday

Wake up Wednesday