Spaghetti Bolognese

When it comes to Spaghetti I can’t get enough, literaly. 

It scares people how I just keep adding more to my plate and still not feel stuffed. I’m sure there is some kind of intervention coming my way J

My theory is that spaghetti and I have some weird symbiosis going on: They feed me and I eat them...endlessly.

So here is the recipe to my favourite kind. To me it’s comfort food, homey but still not boring.

You’ll need:

• 500g ground meat
• 4 chopped tomatoes and 250g canned tomatoes
• Two carrots
• Onion (two small, or one big)
• two cloves of garlic
• two stalks of celery
• vegetable broth (at least a glass, but you’ll probably need more)
• paprika, pepper, salt, rosemary to taste (fresh, if you can get some – but dried is fine)
• olive oil
• parmesan

Get started by chopping all the vegetables in small dices.

I was in a hurry Friday, so I’m not really impressed by my work on that.

I usually grate the carrots, because I’m impatient when it comes to chopping and preparing things. And the smaller the ingredients the faster they are cooked.

Get out a big pan and add a tbsp of olive oil. Put it on medium heat and slowly heat the onion, garlic and celery dices. It is crucial to give that some time. If it starts sticking to the pan, please don’t add more olive oil, go for the vegetable broth.

As soon as the onions turn glazed throw in the carrots and the diced tomatoes and add half a glass of vegetable broth.

Let it simmer  (stir occasionally) until there is almost no more fluid left. Then add another bit of broth and let it reduce again.

Now push the vegetables to the side of the pan and add the meat. You could use a different pan, but I actually like when all the flavours come together like that. (If you are using fresh rosemary add it now)

Cook everything for about five minutes and stir from time to time. Season with salt, pepper, paprika and rosemary.

Add the tomatoes and let it simmer again. I just realised how often you just let it sit there and not do anything, it kind of cooks itself.

At this point I reduce the heat and let it sit on the stove for as long as I please... Or as long as I can keep my hands off.

Of course you'll need to add a little bit of broth now and then...  and stir... and taste (maybe season). But that isn’t too much work either.

I promise the longer it just sits there, the better it gets. If you don’t have the time, make a little extra, because the leftovers just taste amazing the next day.

Bon Appétit

 P.S.: At some point you should probably prepare the spaghetti :)