Pasta Bolognese Sauce

Marky

Marky

Marky

Soldato
Joined
16 Apr 2007
Posts
23,425
Location
UK
Hey all,

I've been using Dolmios Original Bolognese sauce for years now but over the past couple of years I feel that the tomatos they use in the sauce aren't being cut up properly. When I make the pasta, I find myself looking through it before I eat it because I might find large chunks of tomatos in it - And I hate that :p

So I'm looking for another Bolognese sauce - I've tried one from Loyd Grossman but it was quite bland and had no flavour to it.

I looked in the aisle at the supermarket - dolmios certainly has the dominance :p Is there any others that are worth trying?

Thanks,

Marky
 
Tined tomatoes chopped or holes which ether you prefer, table spoon of tomato puré little tip fry it off a bit when frying the onions and garlic just take the bitter edge away, salt, pepper, basil, parsley *if preferred i dont use it but it can be a good mix or use on some home-made garlic bread, and season with salt and pepper - works out the same price of the jarred ****... :D taste a lot better also you can amend the ingridence to your prefences.
Little DILISHIOUS discovery: add tablespoon or less just dont over power it with it of philadelphia or soft cheese it lovely
 
Make it yourself.

a couple of table spoons of olive oil
1 x onion
1 x carrot
1 x celery
several cloves of garlic
glass of white wine
glass of milk
can of chopped tomatoes/ or can of whole plum tomatoes

Heat the oil
Add the finely chopped onions, garlic and carrot and fry for around 5 minutes
Add the garlic just before the meat or along with it
add the meat and stir quickly to avoid big lumps
when the meat is cooked add the wine and stir off any residue that is coated to the pan
add the tomatoes and milk
Cook on a low heat and simmer for 1.5 -2hrs

I normally like to add some rosemary, a couple of bay leaves and a dried red chilli right at the outset.
The most important thing is to cook it long enough to get the rich flavours from the tomatoes.
 
From Google and various culinary experiments, I'm somewhat dubious about whether bolognese should have any tomatoes at all. I've just been using paste, stock and wine. Certainly I've certainly never had a bolognese in a restaurant which looks or tastes anything like Dolmio.
 
This is from Antonio Carluccio

This is by far the best-known bolognese recipe which, to be genuine, has to be made with fresh tagliatelle. Serves 4

INGREDIENTS
500g (1lb) fresh tagliatelle or 400g dried egg tagliatelle
60g (2oz) parmesan cheese, grated
FOR THE RAGU
55g (1.9oz) butter
55g (1.9oz) minced prosciutto fat or pancetta
1 large carrot, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
100g (3.5oz) minced lean veal or beef
100g (3.5oz) minced lean pork
1 glass of dry white wine
A little beef or chicken stock
3 tbsp tomato paste salt and pepper
METHOD
To make the ragu, heat the butter in a large pan, add the prosciutto fat or pancetta, carrot, celery and onion and fry gently for about 10 minutes.
Add the minced meats and stir with a wooden spoon to break them into smaller chunks.
Cook for about 15 minutes to brown the meat, then add the wine and bubble for a few minutes to allow the alcohol to evaporate.
Stir in a little stock to prevent the mixture sticking to the pan. Stir in the tomato paste and dilute with a few tablespoons of stock. Leave to simmer for 90 minutes, adding more stock if the mixture becomes dry. Then add a little more stock to obtain a smooth consistency. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Cook the tagliatelle in boiling salted water until al dente, then drain and mix with the sauce. Serve with parmesan cheese.
 
it's not hard to make a basic tasty pasta sauce

fry beef and onion, season (add bacon too for even more taste:D)
add mushrooms, worcestershire sauce, 2 garlic cloves, stock cube (add red wine if you have some)
add 2tbsp tomato puree (or ketchup) and can of tomatos
juice of half a lemon
mixed herbs

simmer for 25 mins.
 
Last edited:
Adz said:
Certainly I've certainly never had a bolognese in a restaurant which looks or tastes anything like Dolmio.
Click to expand...

Probably because it tastes horrible compared to the real thing and the real thing is much cheaper than pre-made.

If you need a hand blender I can recommend the Philips HR1363 Hand Blender, currently a bargain from the jungle. Cheap but perfect for this sort of thing!

If you want to make the sauce rich you could use tinned cherry tomatos (or 50/50 with chopped tomatos etc) - nice and rich!
 
Adz said:
From Google and various culinary experiments, I'm somewhat dubious about whether bolognese should have any tomatoes at all. I've just been using paste, stock and wine. Certainly I've certainly never had a bolognese in a restaurant which looks or tastes anything like Dolmio.
Click to expand...

I make it using tomatoes, but not very many.
I normally use 1 400g tin of plum tomatoes to about 1.2kg of meat (I make it in pretty big batches to freeze) and it's many, many times better than anything you can buy in the supermarket.
 
EdwardTeach said:
Make it yourself.

a couple of table spoons of olive oil
1 x onion
1 x carrot
1 x celery
several cloves of garlic
glass of white wine
glass of milk
can of chopped tomatoes/ or can of whole plum tomatoes

Heat the oil
Add the finely chopped onions, garlic and carrot and fry for around 5 minutes
Add the garlic just before the meat or along with it
add the meat and stir quickly to avoid big lumps
when the meat is cooked add the wine and stir off any residue that is coated to the pan
add the tomatoes and milk
Cook on a low heat and simmer for 1.5 -2hrs

I normally like to add some rosemary, a couple of bay leaves and a dried red chilli right at the outset.
The most important thing is to cook it long enough to get the rich flavours from the tomatoes.
Click to expand...

virtually the same as blackbeards's :p
but i let wine reduce to nothing, and then add milk and do the same.
also cook for a minimum of 3hrs
 
Adz said:
From Google and various culinary experiments, I'm somewhat dubious about whether bolognese should have any tomatoes at all. I've just been using paste, stock and wine. Certainly I've certainly never had a bolognese in a restaurant which looks or tastes anything like Dolmio.
Click to expand...

Well, interesting comment i cant exactly remember it either the first bolognese recipe, or it was a regional thing where the north of Italy actually has the tomatos in there recipe and the south region doesn't i maybe wrong and need to be correct - yes a lot of authentic Italain bolognese do not have red wine and tomatos... :D
 
This is how I do mine:

3-4 cloves of garlic chopped up in a pan with some diced onions.
Sweat them down and then remove from the pan.
Add the mince and brown off and add a couple of oxo's
Back in with the onions and garlic and mix together.
Add two cans on chopped plum tomatoes and about 3 tbspns of passata.
Good glug of Worcestershire sauce.
Good sprinkle of dried basil, oregano and a couple of basil leaves chopped up.
Season to taste but lots of black pepper.

Let that simmer on a low heat for about half an hour stirring occasionally and then tasting at the end.

Do a load in a big saucepan and freeze, you can then use it for Lasagna, Spag Bol, Nachos........I've even had it on toast after the pub!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom