Pasta Bolognese

This is one of those recipes that almost everyone will love, except of course, you are a vegetarian. Then you will either hate it, or be indifferent to it. But if you are a meat eater, then you will be very satisfied with this hearty, classic Italian Pasta Bolognese Recipe. Which of course, means Meat Sauce in Italian. So, call it whatever you want, but this is one easy and delicious pasta recipe that is sure to warm up your heart & tummy on these cold winter days. Or if it is warm wherever it is that you are, then you can still enjoy it, of course you might get hot and sweaty after eating it, but either way, you will enjoy it!

So enough talking, here is the recipe:

Pasta Bolognese
Preparation time: 10 minutes, cooking time: 20 minutes

INGREDIENTS

1 Package Fusilli Rice Pasta (or whatever type of pasta you prefer, spaghetti works really well also)
1 pound lean-ground beef
1 pound mushrooms, sliced (I am using Button Mushrooms here, but you could just as well you use Crimini Mushrooms, which are delicious)
1 whole red onion, chopped
3-4 cloves of garlic, pressed
2 small cans of tomato paste
1 10-15 oz jar or can of tomato sauce
4-5 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese, grated (to garnish, not pictured below)
Parsley, chopped (to garnish, not pictured below)

Here is a photo, because blog posts are always better with photos

To begin, bring a pot of water to a boil. Oh and don’t forget to salt it to taste first.

But you probably knew that right? I am making an assumption here, but I’m sure most people know how to boil some pasta…

While the water is boiling, grab the red onion, cut off the ends, peel off the skin and cut in half.

Finely chop it up…

By this time your water is probably boiling, so dump the pasta into the boiling water…

And give it a good stir… Make sure you do that, because if you don’t, it’ll all stick together, and we definitely don’t want that.

Next peel and press (or chop, if you don’t have a garlic press) the garlic…

But as a side note, if you don’t own a garlic press, invest in one. They are so handy and time saving.

For some reason, when it comes to chopping garlic, I really don’t have patience for it. So the press works for me

Next, take out the stems out of all the mushrooms and discard. Or if you want to use them, go ahead and do so, they are edible and I used to use them in my cooking as well, until one day I stopped. Don’t ask me why.

Perhaps it has something to do with my anal, obsessive nature of wanting all my mushroom pieces to look the same? Who knows

Oh yeah, at this point, don’t forget to check on your pasta. Follow the package instructions. You want the pasta to be al dente (which means, a little more than half cooked, so it has a pretty hard texture), because we’re still going to cook it later in the meat sauce.

Use your judgement, and if you think it’s ready, drain it and set aside.

Back to the lovely mushrooms. Slice’em up, not too thick, not too thin. Mushrooms sort of melt as they cook, so if you slice too thin, they will disappear.. and you definitely don’t want that. We want to feel the delicious mushroom texture in the end result.

Now, on medium-high heat, using the same pot that we used to boil the pasta in, pour in the Extra virgin olive oil, and when it’s heated up, throw in the chopped red onion, and then the garlic.

Season with salt & pepper to taste…

Let it get golden brown, stirring occasionally, to prevent burning.

When the onions are nice and caramelized, add in the ground beef. Use your wooden spoon to sort of break apart the big chunks of meat, so it’s nice and loose.

I know we’ve already seasoned the onion & garlic mixture, but I like to season the meat as I add it in. Not too much… just enough to bring out the flavour.

Keep stirring until the meat starts to brown… Which will probably take 7-8 minutes.

Then add the mushrooms…

Stir it around and let cook for about 5-6 minutes.

Next, goes in the tomato sauce…

Dump it all in, baby… don’t be stingy.

Stir well… Mmm… Smells delicious!

Now you can add the tomato paste, which will thicken the sauce and add a nice texture to the whole thing.

Remember that pasta we boiled and drained earlier? Well, now you can finally add it in.

Let it simmer for about 3-4 minutes on medium heat with the lead on.

Turn off the heat and serve while hot for best results…

Oh yeah, almost forgot… Grate some fresh parmigiano-reggiano cheese right over top…. Come on, be generous!

And sprinkle some parsley for a pop of color, and of course the health benefits of fresh herbs!

Buon Appetito!