Pasta bolognese

Time for pasta bolognese!

Everybody should know to make a bolognese. It is definitely not difficult to fry some minced beef, mix in tomatoes and spices and serve with cooked pasta and maybe some grated parmesan.

But, I actually find it a bit difficult to get the bolognese to taste of real meat, and not just pasta with sauce and cheese. Luckily I have found out that adding some vegetables like celeriac and carrots, can make the sauce taste richer. I know that vegetables might not belong in this dish if you ask an Italian mama, but she must have a secret recipe, because I cannot get the very meaty taste just by using some good minced beef, and as a bonus to my version, you get some of those nasty vegetables disguised in the sauce. The celeriac has the advantage of mixing very well with the sauce and adding the rich flavor. You cannot taste the celeriac or carrots if you use a food processor for chopping the vegetables to a very fine texture before adding to the beef.

Only concern is, watch out, and do not add to much of this secret ingredient. It can actually be much, as I experienced with it this time. It can be difficult to hold back, since it is very cheap groceries, but please do so.

In this version I also added some bacon, to get a smokey flavor, but I wish I had bought some higher quality bacon than what you get at the supermarket. The budget should be able to handle it, since every other ingredient is not very expensive.

Pasta bolognese

Remember to cook the pasta a little less than what it says on the package. At least taste them while cooking, so you can get them al dente (it should make some resistance, but without getting caught in your teeth).

Also, I actually think that by adding the vegetables in the dish, I do not need the parmesan to give it its final touch - it tastes good by itself. So a win win, more vegetables and less fat. I am actually quite satisfied with the outcome.

Finally, remember to cook enough so you have leftovers for another day. Such an easy dish to prepare when all you have to do it warm up the sauce and cook the pasta. And somehow it tastes better second time around - maybe the sauce cooks to a more concentrated flavor, or maybe it is just the fact that you have to do less the second time, so it is more value for effort.

Meat quiche

Today, I decided to not go grocery shopping, and just make a dish out of the few things left in my fridge. In my drawer, I found a powder pie base - I do not know why I ever bought this, making it yourself is not at all difficult, but it was probably cheap. Well, this was then my base, and in the fridge I had eggs, some bell peppers and a pack of minced beef.

Actually this dish was almost free, since the meat, which I brought home from Netto the other day, I had accidentally stolen. I do not know, how I succeeded on this, but I suspect it to be among my other groceries when packing, although I am pretty sure I did not pay for it. This gives me a bad conscience, but what should I do, I was already home, and of cause it should not go to waste.  - On top of all, it was also organic, which I do not usually buy in Netto. If I want to buy some good organic meat, I would go to the butcher instead.

Well to make an already too long story short, I fried some onions in a pan, added the beef, and mixed in chopped green bell pepper at last. I seasoned the meat with some different spices, cumin, chili powder, ramsons powder, and of cause salt and pepper. It smelled nice, so my expectations was actually okay high.

I added the meat mix on top of the pie base and poured eggs mixed with some milk on top. To finish it off I arranged finely sliced red bell pepper on top. The results looked as below, which I actually find pretty nice.

My problem with this dish is that pretty much every time I make a pie, I do not feel satisfied with the bottom of the pie. I know the dough is cooked through, but it is always a little gooey. I am not sure whether it is actually possible to make it crisp - I have not found the secret yet. Also, even though the meat mix smelled very nice, I would still like the pie to have much more flavor. Maybe the secret to this, is just to double my spices.

Bonus post: The other day, I decided to make my boyfriend Tiramisu - he says I make it way so seldom, so I suspect he very much likes it :)

For this I use the Danish brothers Price's recipe, but I exchange some things. Although Danish eggs have been confirmed Salmonella free, I usually use pasteurized eggs. I used a whole vanilla pod and instead of topping off with cocoa, I like to use grated chocolate. I think cocoa powder is too bitter, so 70% chocolate fits my taste better. Oh yeah, and instead of Amaretto I use Kahlua.

Remember that the Tiramisu needs to settle in the fridge for at least a couple of hours, and ideally a couple of days - believe me.

This recipe has actually gotten several of my friends and family to like Tiramisu, though they all stated up front that they did not like it.

Steak with potato fondant and fennel salad

Friday night dinner. Special offer at the local butcher. Red wine marinated ribeye steaks, which of cause calls for a bottle of red wine from the secret safe - the closet :)

My boyfriend and I enjoy to buy some delicious meat at the butcher or some lovely fish from the local fisher man. Most often this part becomes the center piece of the evenings dish. Therefore we do not usually put much thought into the side dishes. Well this night was a mix. Today we tried cooking potatoes in a way I have never tried before. Not a difficult dish, but fun to try something different.

A potato fondant is simply a baking potato cut into small cubed pieces. First you fry them in lots of olive oil and butter on the pan. Then you cook them in the oven at 200 degrees with for example chicken stock up to just underneath the top of the potatoes and together with some in our case thyme, and of cause seasoning. Fry them until they have a nice color, then cook in the oven until done. In our case this was around 10-12 minutes.

The cubes 

The steaks only got just a little more than 2 minutes on each side on a very hot frying pan and then rested for 5-10 minutes. Add some whole garlic cloves - do not bother peeling, thyme and butter while frying.

Finally we made a very simple but very tasty fennel salad. Slice the fennel very thin. Remember to cut out the middle part. Marinate in equal parts of lemon and olive oil while you cook everything else. Remember to season.

Steaks with potato fondant and fennel salad.

The sauce, I have to admit was a bought sauce from Irma (a danish finer grocery shop). This was actually not the greatest match. The cognac pepper sauce drowned the fine flavors of the meat.

If the post has any spelling mistakes, bear over with me. The red wine was good :)