Spaghetti Bolognese

Author: Maxwell Hawkins
Total Time: 90 mins
Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 4-5 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 1/4 cups beef or chicken broth
• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1x 14 oz cans chopped tomatoes
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 4 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 1 Lb button mushrooms, either quartered or sliced
• 2/3 cup red wine
• 1 Lb Spaghetti noodles
• salt and ground black pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Place half of the broth, onions, and garlic into a medium saucepan, and bring to a boil. cook for 5 minutes, or until stock is completely reduced.
2. Add ground beef, and cook for 5 minutes.
3. Add tomatoes, basil, oregano, and tomato paste. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 1 hour.
4. Meanwhile, heat up a medium nonstick pan, place mushrooms and wine into pan, and bring to a boil. cook for 5 minutes, or until wine has evaporated.
5. Add mushrooms to the meat about 30-40 minutes after starting the simmer (step 3)
6. Bring a large saucepan with salted water to a boil. Cook pasta for 8-10 minutes, until tender. Drain.
7. Serve pasta on a plate, topped with the meat sauce

Notes

Bolognese of course places the flavor and texture of ground meat front and center, but this dish is made vegetarian friendly very easily by substituting ground beef with impossible beef , and beef broth with veggie broth. Max, our resident veggisaurus, has made this recipe in this fashion multiple times, and even the meat eaters had a hard time telling that something was different!

This is a recipe where the flavors blend and develop the longer you simmer. The simmer time in step three is my recommended minimum- but feel free to cover and simmer on low for 2-6 hours if you have the time to do so- just check it on occasion so it doesn’t dry out and burn!

You can also substitute ground beef and beef broth with ground turkey and chicken broth, if bird is more to your liking.