Spaghetti Bolognese 🍝

Here’s another pasta recipe here for you, but this one is a Spaghetti Bolognese. I think my favorite part about making this was actually how involved the sauce is. The low-heat, herbs, and time makes the sauce so flavorful and filled my apartment a cozy aroma. All great things take time (but I swear it doesn’t take that long to make, 1 hr to MAYBEEE ~1.5 hrs max). As you wait for all of the flavors to mesh together, you can leave it on your stovetop on a light simmer while you run around doin life, and come back to a delicious sauce to top off your spaghetti with. It can be made with ingredients you already probably have on hand already anyway, sooo yeah, you should give it a try!

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• 1 big onion, finely chopped

• 2 cloves of garlic, minced

• 2 carrots, finely chopped

• 2 stalks of celery, finely chopped

• 1 lb minced beef

• 2 tbsp tomato paste

• 1 can chopped tomatoes

• 1 cup beef/vegetable stock

• 1 tsp dried oregano

• 1 tsp fresh basil

• Salt and pepper, to taste

• A box of Spaghetti

• Fresh basil leaves and parsely for garnish

• Grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions:

1. Prepare ingredients: Finely chop the onion, garlic, carrots, and celery.

2. Cook Base: Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, carrots, and celery and cook until the vegetables are tender. This should take you around 5 to 7 minutes, and stir it occasionally to make sure nothing is sticking to the pan.

3. Brown the Meat: Increase heat to medium-high and add ground beef. Cook until browned, breaking up the meat for about 8-10 minutes.

4. Stir in Tomato Paste: Add in tomato paste and cook 2 minutes. This helps break down the tomato paste flavors.

5. Simmer the Sauce: Add the chopped tomatoes, vegetable/beef stock (I used vegetable stock since it was more accessible), dried oregano, and fresh basil. Stir it all well to combine. Then, bring it to a boil, and reduce the heat to low and simmer. You can leave it uncovered, but I covered it for about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Make sure to stir occasionally, and season with salt and pepper to taste. If you feel like the sauce it just way too think, add either another 1/2 cup of stock or water.

6. Cook the Spaghetti: With about 10 minutes to go on the sauce, cook the spaghetti in a pot per package instructions until al dente. Since I was hosting, I made the sauce earlier and heated it up when I cooked the pasta closer to when I wanted to serve it.

7. Combine and Serve: Toss the cooked spaghetti with the Bolognese sauce. Serve it with some fresh basil leaves on top and some grated Parmesan cheese, and enjoy!