I absolutely adore Ina Garten. I love her recipes, her style of teaching on her cooking show, and how she seems both fabulous and approachable. I would be happy to just blog about making recipes from her cookbooks as I know I'd enjoy the food! Tonight, as it is a weeknight, I thought it appropriate to try out Ina's "Weekend Bolognese" recipe from her cookbook Barefoot Contessa: How Easy is That?
My daughter asked to help me cook tonight and I was happy to include her. However, instead of teaching her the wisdom of reading through the entire recipe before doing anything, I had her read the steps to me as we went. Sigh. I seem to have a serious mental block when it comes to previewing my recipes. I think, in part, the problem arises because I am usually rushing to cook my meals in between picking kids up from lessons, sending out PTA emails, cleaning the dishes from the night before when I realize I need them for tonight, and so forth. Tonight, I didn't even re-read the ingredient list. I read it a few days ago and, at that time, I had a small amount of heavy cream in my fridge, leftover from when I made strawberry frosting. Yesterday, however, I made chocolate frosting (I don't usually make so much frosting but I have been baking birthday cupcakes for foster kids) and used up the remaining heavy cream. Fast forward to tonight, when my bolognese was simmering, and I realized that I didn't have any heavy cream left. Thankfully, my sweet Mom came to my rescue and delivered a 1/4 cup of whole milk to me so I didn't have to leave my food cooking on the stove (the whole milk was preferable to no dairy added at all and didn't seem to affect the recipe in any event).
The entire dish was prepared in a similar, frantic manner. The ground beef was cooking when I realized that I should have peeled and minced my garlic in advance and taken out the oregano. I did skip the red pepper flakes step since I knew my kids would not like them. Immediately after I added the garlic and oregano, breathing a sigh of relief that I managed to include those ingredients in time, I remembered that the recipe also called for some red wine. I grabbed the first bottle I could get my hands on and opened it in record time. I was glad that wine was part of my recipe since, at this point, I needed a glass after all of my crazed cooking.
The pasta in tonight's dish was orecchiette pasta ("little ears"). I have always had a thing for orecchiette. I guess I like how well it holds sauce. That is also it's downfall, however, since it is always harder to properly drain orecchiette than other pastas - they are like little bowls that hold all of the water.
The recipe calls for a large can of crushed tomatoes and Ina recommends that those tomatoes be San Marzano. I have to agree with her as I have always enjoyed their flavor. I also purchased San Marzano tomato paste. The paste was "double concentrated" but I used the amount stated in the recipe (2 Tablespoons) anyway, hoping that it didn't matter.
This is a pretty straightforward bolognese recipe but I was surprised by one ingredient in Ina's version: nutmeg. I love nutmeg but I never knew it to be included in bolognese. On the other hand, I don't think I've ever cooked bolognese...I've just consumed a lot of it.
One of the highlights of this dish for me, oddly enough, is that it asked for a "large serving bowl". I got to break out one of my favorite serving pieces which is something that usually only happens when we have company over for a meal.
The kids and I loved the pasta and they both agreed this was their favorite of my Cookbook Addict recipes so far. My husband was working late tonight (again, poor guy!) so this was the perfect night to have some pasta since he is not a fan of it. The dish was also a perfect comfort-food-dish for a chilly spring evening.
Dirty Dish Count: A saucepan, a colander, a frying pan, a spatula, four measuring spoons, two measuring cups, the daisy shaped silicone cover that prevents boil-over, a serving fork, a serving spoon, and one large serving bowl.
Now, if only I could remember to pre-read my recipe! Wish me luck!
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