Comfort Food! Speghetti Bolognese

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What are comfort foods? They are foods that soothe the psyche by reminding us of comforting childhood memories. For most of us, these foods are far from gourmet and generally epitomize home cooking. They invoke feelings of nostalgia, safety, and security.

In a poll, I recently read, I  took a stroll down memory lane to revisit favorite American comfort foods. The responses showed distinctive trends relating to age, childhood regional location, and ethnic upbringing. It comes as no surprise that peanut and jelly sandwiches and grilled cheese ranked highest, but who needs a recipe for those? Those two aside, the next highest on the list were meatloaf, mash potatoes, fried chicken, pot roast, macaroni and cheese, spaghetti, and surprisingly, good ol' tuna casserole.

Comfort food to me is Mom's fried chicken.......why? My Mother used to fry chicken every Sunday and serve with baked potato and fresh green beans with bacon. My Dad, my two older brother's and I would go skiing on Sunday during the Winter, and when we drove in the long driveway, you could smell the chicken....mmmmmm...mmmmmm, we were home to a hot bath and Mom's Fried Chicken. Wee Bear loves spaghetti on Sunday, that is comfort to him. Sometimes I make my own pasta, but with spaghetti, I just get a spaghetti noodle off the shelf at the grocery that I know is good. I am sharing my bolognese recipe today and in the future will share my updated version of Mom's Fried Chicken, it is baked and easy, but, I still serve with baked potato and green beans!

                                                   

Spaghetti Bolognese

1 pkg. speghetti noodles

Sauce:

1 lb. ground pork

1 lb. ground veal or beef

1/2 lb. ground pancetta or lean bacon

2 yellow onions, diced small

1/2 bunch celery, diced small

1/4 c. garlic sliced

1 c. pinot gricio wine

1/2 c. whole milk

1 bunch thyme

2 c. tomato sauce

salt to taste

Tomato Sauce:

4 c. Crushed tomatoes

1/4 large onion, diced small

1 bunch basil, chopped

1 bunch oregano

1 T. Olive oil, extra virgin

salt to taste

Garnish:

Pecorino or Parmesan

Parsley 

Sauce:

Brown all the meat in a large skillet. Add the vegetables and thyme and cook until tender. Add the wine and reduce to almost dry. Add the milk and allow to slightly thicken. Add the tomato sauce and cook until the Bolognese becomes thick. Season to taste with the salt.

Tomato Sauce:

In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, saute onions in the olive oil until golden brown. Add crushed tomatoes, basil, oregano. Let the sauce come to a boil, lower heat to low and stir occasionally until desired thickness. About 1 hour.

Assembly:

In a saute pan, heat up 1 cup bolognese with 1 cup tomato sauce. Meanwhile, put your speghetti noodles into boiling water until al dente, about 10 minutes. 

I test one noodle by taste, and double check with Wee Bear! Then drain the noodles, put them into your pasta bowl and pour the bolognese on top. Garnish with pecorino cheese and parsley and have plenty of cheese for the table.

Assembly:

In a saute pan, heat up 1 cup bolognese with 1 cup tomato sauce. Meanwhile, put your speghetti noodles into boiling water until al dente, about 10 minutes. 

I test one noodle by taste, and double check with Wee Bear! Then drain the noodles, put them into your pasta bowl and pour the bolognese on top. Garnish with pecorino cheese and parsley and have plenty of cheese for the table.

Double Irish Chain class pictures:

Here I am cutting the strips with my rotary cutter, using my mat and a Omni grid ruler. I have squared the fabric up first and cut off  the uneven  edge.

 Here, you can see where Dawn, one of my students is sewing the strips together to make the strata, using a 1/4" seam allowance.

In this picture, you see the strata, that Paula, has made.

in this picture, you can see how everyone picked out different fabric patterns to put into their quilt, this is Becky's.

This strata is mine. I am showing the back as well. When pressing the seams, make sure you follow the directional arrows on the pressing guide sheet. It will make matching the seams, during assembly much easier.

Here you see where Dawn, has made her plain block, and her busy block. Dawn has never quilted in her life, and had no problems with this quilt. She was jumping for joy by the end of class. Well, as much as she could with a cracked pelvis and on crutches!! (She had a skiing accident this Winter) I am hoping this quilting will provide her entertainment, until she is back with her golf clubs!!

This is the busy block for Becky. She had decided her fabric's did not contrast enough and was going change that. I can't wait until our next class to see what she does.

Cheers!
JJ