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Couple of reasons for posting this.
My grandmother's Italian and this tastes quite similar to hers, which is authentic to the region she's from. One of the interesting things about Italian cooking is that it differs greatly from region to region as historically Italy consisted of many different city states. It was only in the 1800's that the country was unified.
Secondly, it's vegetarian friendly so may give people another idea on how to use Quorn mince. It's much quicker to make than the original recipe and is pretty tasty.
Ingredients:
Pasta of your choice.
Red Onion (Already in the pan by the time the pic was taken)
Quorn Mince
Chopped Tomatoes
Tomato Puree (Not pictured)
Garlic
Parsley
Oregano
Basil
Thyme
Ketchup
Bouillon or stock / stock cubes
Salt
Pepper
Method:
Slice the red onion and place it into a pre-heated pan with a glug of light olive oil. (Never use extra-virgin to fry with)
The aim is to soften the onions here as they will not soften much more when the liquid is added unless stewed for hours.
You should also add diced carrot and celery to form a proper sofrito at this stage but we were out of those at the time.
To this, add the tomato paste and some pepper, then turn the heat up to gently fry it for a minute or two, helping to remove the slightly bitter edge from the paste and cook the spice, before lowering the heat again.
Once the vegetables are softened, add the diced garlic (we used some fresh for texture but the majority of the flavour came from several spoons of pre-prepared for convenience sake)
Be careful with the heat at this stage to ensure the garlic does not burn, otherwise it will leave a bitter taste.
At this stage, you can add the tomatoes to the fried vegetable base and begin to incorporate all of the other flavours as well, adding the mince and breaking up the tomatoes with the back of your spoon as they cook down.
The best thing to do here is begin to taste the sauce and build the flavours up, creating it to suit your tastes.
Put in some stock and ketchup for the additional depth of flavour and (if using dried herbs) a good quantity of parsley, thyme and oregano. I use less basil than the other herbs as I'm not keen on the metallic edge it adds, but again continually taste and see what you prefer.
If you're using fresh herbs I would place them in towards the end to preserve the flavour and colour.
Once you are happy with the result, place a lid on the sauce (which will continue to concentrate in flavour the longer it is simmered) and boil a large saucepan full of water.
Add a liberal amount of salt to the water as it begins to boil, to season the pasta as it cooks and once the water begins to roll and bubble rapidly, add the pasta in. If you place it in before it is at this rolling stage, it may stick or lose some texture.
Once the pasta has cooked to become al dente, take a couple of spoonfulls of the starchy seasoned pasta water and add it into the sauce, helping loosen it up and replacing anything lost due to evaporation.
Drain the pasta and add it directly into the sauce so that the flavours integrate and it fuses together, rather than piling the sauce ontop of the pasta after it has been cooked.
Enjoy.
The recipe can always easily be adapted for meat eaters by removing the sofrito after it has softened and frying the mince in the same pan to colour it, then returning the sofrito into the browned mince and pan juices before adding the tomato.
My grandmother's Italian and this tastes quite similar to hers, which is authentic to the region she's from. One of the interesting things about Italian cooking is that it differs greatly from region to region as historically Italy consisted of many different city states. It was only in the 1800's that the country was unified.
Secondly, it's vegetarian friendly so may give people another idea on how to use Quorn mince. It's much quicker to make than the original recipe and is pretty tasty.
Ingredients:
Pasta of your choice.
Red Onion (Already in the pan by the time the pic was taken)
Quorn Mince
Chopped Tomatoes
Tomato Puree (Not pictured)
Garlic
Parsley
Oregano
Basil
Thyme
Ketchup
Bouillon or stock / stock cubes
Salt
Pepper
Method:
Slice the red onion and place it into a pre-heated pan with a glug of light olive oil. (Never use extra-virgin to fry with)
The aim is to soften the onions here as they will not soften much more when the liquid is added unless stewed for hours.
You should also add diced carrot and celery to form a proper sofrito at this stage but we were out of those at the time.
To this, add the tomato paste and some pepper, then turn the heat up to gently fry it for a minute or two, helping to remove the slightly bitter edge from the paste and cook the spice, before lowering the heat again.
Once the vegetables are softened, add the diced garlic (we used some fresh for texture but the majority of the flavour came from several spoons of pre-prepared for convenience sake)
Be careful with the heat at this stage to ensure the garlic does not burn, otherwise it will leave a bitter taste.
At this stage, you can add the tomatoes to the fried vegetable base and begin to incorporate all of the other flavours as well, adding the mince and breaking up the tomatoes with the back of your spoon as they cook down.
The best thing to do here is begin to taste the sauce and build the flavours up, creating it to suit your tastes.
Put in some stock and ketchup for the additional depth of flavour and (if using dried herbs) a good quantity of parsley, thyme and oregano. I use less basil than the other herbs as I'm not keen on the metallic edge it adds, but again continually taste and see what you prefer.
If you're using fresh herbs I would place them in towards the end to preserve the flavour and colour.
Once you are happy with the result, place a lid on the sauce (which will continue to concentrate in flavour the longer it is simmered) and boil a large saucepan full of water.
Add a liberal amount of salt to the water as it begins to boil, to season the pasta as it cooks and once the water begins to roll and bubble rapidly, add the pasta in. If you place it in before it is at this rolling stage, it may stick or lose some texture.
Once the pasta has cooked to become al dente, take a couple of spoonfulls of the starchy seasoned pasta water and add it into the sauce, helping loosen it up and replacing anything lost due to evaporation.
Drain the pasta and add it directly into the sauce so that the flavours integrate and it fuses together, rather than piling the sauce ontop of the pasta after it has been cooked.
Enjoy.
The recipe can always easily be adapted for meat eaters by removing the sofrito after it has softened and frying the mince in the same pan to colour it, then returning the sofrito into the browned mince and pan juices before adding the tomato.
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