My Spaghetti

Growing up, we view pasta as a food only for special occassions. It is only served on important holidays such as Christmas and New Years eve, or if you are lucky, it might be available on your birthday. On regular days, rice pretty much sums up our everyday diet.

I really didn't care much about pasta as long it was served in a form of spaghetti. For years, I have been making it in an easy route of opening a jar of spaghetti sauce and mix it with sauteed ground meat. I didn't make such as fuss about having good pasta till that one Thanksgiving week in Rome.

Aww.

It was 2002 when Hubby and I decided to spend the Thanksgiving holiday in Rome. It is our first foray in Europe. To me, my purpose of travelling was getting those trophy photos and getting to visit all the tourist spots. So for the first 2 days, we have been eating our main meals at the Chinese restaurant in front of the Stazione Termini.

On the third day, we happened for be in the vicinity of Campo de' Fiori when it started to rain. We saw a nondescript trattoria (I didn't even bother to get the name) whose tables had red checkered table cloths. The waiter that took our order suggested to order the pasta special of the day which has a fancy name but looked like a rigatoni bolognaise. And it was wonderful, one of my memorable meal so far. I always remember that everytime I open up that jar of spaghetti sauce.

After that I have been experimenting on cook book recipes trying to recreate that whole bowl of wonderful-ness. Nothing comes close to what I had in Rome until I stumbled upon this recipe from Kathleen Flinn's book: The Shaper the Knife, the Less You Cry. The ingredients is almost the same as any bolognaise recipe but I think the main ingredient was the dry red wine added with the slow cook process that take time to absorb all that flavor. This has always been a winner in my household.


And I haven't opened up a jar of spaghetti sauce since then.

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SPAGHETTI BOLOGNAISE DE SHARON
(The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry)

2 large onions, chopped (about 2 1/2 cups)
2 Tbsp. olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 pounds lean ground beef
1 bottle (750ml) dry red wine
4 Tbsp. tomato paste
1 tsp. Italian herbs
1 cup heavy cream
salt & pepper
3 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley or basil (optional)
1 pound spaghetti, cooked and drained
Parmesan, grated

In a heavy-bottomed Dutch oven or saute pan, cook the onions in olive oil over medium heat until softened. Stir in the garlic, add the beef, and stir until the meat cooks through and separates into crumbly pieces. Add the wine and turn the heat up so that the wine bubbles continuously. Reduce by about half. Skim off any gray foam. Add the tomato paste and stir.

Cover and turn the heat down to very low, and cook for a minimum of two hours and up to four hours. Stir from time to time, scraping the bottom to ensure nothing sticks to it or burns.

Shortly before serving, stir in the cream and Italian herbs. Taste, and then add salt and pepper. Let simmer uncovered another ten minutes. Taste again, adjusting seasonings as necessary, and stir in the parsley. Serve with pasta, sprinkled with Parmesan.

Serves 6-8.


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I usually only make half the box (half pound) of pasta and use only half the meat sauce. The rest I store them back to the fridge to make another set of meal the next day by cooking the rest of the pasta. We eat this at least every other week.

Comments

Bluegreen Kirk said…
I can say that though I have pasta on a more regular bases it would tend to be as you mentioned. Just some pasta a jar of sauce with some meat and well there you go. This recipe really makes me what to forget about already made sauce and get to work. Thanks for the recipe.