Pasta Bolognese

Or...spaghetti. 

I love spaghetti. I've tried a couple recipes, even made my own sauce. But for the most part whenever I want spaghetti I just throw whatever and make spaghetti. No real recipe is required. But sometimes it's fun to try old reliables a different way. So that's how I saw this recipe.

It was easy. Although it takes a little bit of time. And by that I mean around four or so hours.

First per the recipe I made a puree of the celery (in spaghetti?), carrots, onion, and garlic. Cooked them down 20 minutes.

Then added the ground beef. Cooked another 20.

Then added the tomato paste. My first time adding that instead of sauce or actual tomatoes. Waited for it to cook in. 

Then added the wine (Villa Pozzi Cabernet Sauvignon from Sicily), thyme, and bay leaves. (Forgot to take a pic- but it became sauce basically-which I wasn't expecting!)

Let it cook 3 hours. Added the pasta and the cheese. My arm nearly fell off from grating all that part cheese but I did it.

The whole time per the video and recipe I was salting it. Not as much as the video, but I tried her method. Mine came out slightly salty. Especially since I really salted the pasta water. I don't normally add anything but a pinch. And I won't do that again!

And this is what I ended up with. Pasta Bolognese. It's good. I like the sauce (although slightly salty). But I don't think I like it enough to trade my throw together whatever spaghetti recipe that takes not even half the time and effort for this one- and still tastes great. And not this recipe makes the blender dirty so that's just an extra dish to wash.

It was good though. And I'm glad because even though I halved the recipe I still have plenty left over. So yippee for not having to cook a couple of days.

If you are interested in checking the recipe for yourself I got it from Food Network. 

And now, I think I'm going to pour a glass of that leftover wine and get lost in the wonderful wizarding world of Harry Potter because I've got the Monday blues. I'm reading the fourth book....again!