Author: Alex

Bolognese Sauce

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I’m feeling brave … after all, a bolognese sauce is one of those things that everyone makes, everyone knows how to make and everyone has an opinion on how it should be made.

In Bologna, the home of the Bolognese sauce, it is called a ragù and the ‘Bolognese’ comes from the sauce’s French name, sauce bolognaise.  Strictly speaking the sauce should contain just a dash of tomato paste … so please don’t complain that what follows is not a traditional Bolognese sauce!

I had a good read through quite a few recipe books to come up with my final approach.  I knew I had to make do with what was already in the house – so recipes calling for chicken livers, pork and various other exotica will have to wait for another time.  In the end, I most closely followed the recipe found in Ainsley Harriott’s Ainsley’s Friends and Family Cookbook (Amazon US, Amazon UK).  This is a great book as it’s very practical.  Most of the recipes are simple, or quick, or make use of store cupboard ingredients (or all three) which makes it a great resource.  However you happen to feel about Ainsley’s television persona, this book is certainly on the money.

My personal opinion is that, in order to make a good Bolognese sauce you need to make sure you cook it slowly and for a long time, so I was happy to see that Ainsley wants you to simmer your sauce for at least 2 hours, and preferably up to 4.  I really think that if you do give your sauce a good, long, slow cook you cannot go far wrong.

Here is my interpretation of Ainsley Harriott’s Bolognese sauce.

Begin by heating some olive oil in a large pan.  Chop (or dice) two rashers of bacon and add this to the oil.  Fry until starting to crisp, and then add 1 finely diced onion, a diced carrot, garlic to taste and 1 anchovy, finely chopped.  This is a pasta sauce tip I picked up from watching Rick Stein:  an anchovy in a pasta sauce adds depth of flavour without fishiness.  Ainsley’s recipe has you add anchovy essence at the end but I had to make do with the real thing!  Add a scant teaspoon of dried thyme (a few sprigs of fresh thyme, if you have it) and a bay leaf and leave this to cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  The vegetables should start to soften and take on a little colour.

At this point, it’s probably worthwhile winding the heat up a little because next you add 500g beef mince.  Mix this into the vegetables well, breaking up clumps and sauteeing it so that it’s well browned (you don’t want an anaemic, grey sauce, do you?).  Add 2 tbsp of tomato paste and stir well.

Now add 300mL of red wine (if the pan needs deglazing use a little of this prior to tipping in the whole lot) and a 400g tin of tomatoes.  Finish with a grate of nutmeg.  Give it all a good mix, bring to the boil and then reduce the heat and simmer for 2-4 hours.

Most of the time is taken up with the simmering so while you do have to be in the house you can hardly call this recipe labour intensive.  And best of all, serving is not a time sensitive process!

When you’re ready to serve, correct the seasoning and off you go!

spaghetti bolognese

Serve with your favourite pasta (and discover it’s tricky to take a photo that makes it look appetizing!), but make sure to save some leftovers for home made schnitzels …

Easy Lamb Chops

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Marinated Lamb Chops

Well, that’s not really true, is it? Because ‘easy lamb chops’ are ones that you just fry up in a pan with a slick of oil.

But sometimes you might want to do something a bit different, a bit interesting, or you might have something you want to use up.

In this instance, I had some black masala that was taking up fridge space in a jar far too large for its contents. Because the end of this story doesn’t really involve a recipe, I’m going to talk about the black masala.

Black Masala

The recipe comes from Anjum Anand’s Anjum’s New Indian (Amazon US, Amazon UK) and its combination of spices is just a little different. Because I knew I’d be keeping the spice mix for a while, I amended the recipe a little so here is what I did …

Heat a pan and dry fry 30g of dessicated coconut (it should be unsweetened). Fry until golden but watch carefully to make sure it doesn’t burn as then it will become bitter. Tip the golden coconut into a bowl and then dry fry 2 tbsp of sesame seeds (again, watch carefully) and add them to the coconut. And then do the same with 50g of coriander seeds.

With the pan on a low heat, add 1tsp of black peppercorns, 1 star anise, 2 tbsp cumin seeds, 1 tsp caraway seeds, 8 cloves, 2 cardamom pods, chilli flakes (to taste), 1/2 stick cinnamon and 2 bay leaves. Fry, stirring, until the cumin seeds start to change colour. Add to the coconut/sesame/coriander mix and leave to cool.

When cool, grind to a fine powder and store in an airtight container in the fridge, using as required.

Obviously, this is a great mix to use in curries but if you’ve not the time for that type of production … it works brilliantly mixed with some plain yoghurt and used as a marinade for those lamb chops. Mix it all up a couple of hours before you want to grill or bbq the chops and the meat will be succulent and tasty. If you happen to have some mint or basil to chop in it will be even better.

If you don’t happen to have black masala that needs using up … use a little left over curry paste, or, in desperation some chilli powder, turmeric and ground cumin. Basically, once you have the yoghurt the rest of the marinade is totally up to you …

Berry Trifle

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berry trifle in glass bowl

December’s Australian Gourmet Traveller (AGT) featured a stunning dark berry trifle on its cover which was also the month’s Perfect Match recipe.

Trifle is one of those dishes where everyone has a recipe and that recipe is the ‘definitive’ recipe.  So no doubt there will be some complainers that some aspect of this version is wrong (in advance, I warn you there is no custard).

However, at this time of year they are almost a pan-world dessert:  those of us sweltering in the southern hemisphere can enjoy the trifle for its cool-straight-from-the-fridge-ness and those freezing (somewhat too literally for friends in the UK and Europe!) in the northern hemisphere can enjoy the rich, fatty, comforting creaminess of it.  This year, I was hosting Christmas Day and so … this trifle made its appearance as Christmas pudding.

Two notes before embarking on the recipe.  Firstly, you need to make your trifle a day ahead and you need to have pretty much the whole day available to you.  This is not because it takes a whole day, but there’s a lot of “waiting for jelly to set”.

Secondly, the sponge recipe given in AGT is either woefully inadequate and wrong or I can’t bake.  The abject failure which emerged from the even was eventually consigned to the bin, as I realised I needed to start again.  My second attempt was using Marcus Wareing’s sponge recipe from One Perfect Ingredient*.  A gorgeous, risen, fluffy sponge emerged from the oven … so I’m guessing I can bake after all.

The ingredients here are suitable for a 3 litre trifle bowl.  Choose your prettiest glass bowl so your guests can admire the layers!

This is a long recipe … so let’s dive in!

Begin by making the sponge.

Preheat oven to 165°C fan (180°C) and baseline a 24cm x 24 cm baking dish or cake tin. You need to make sure that the tin in which you bake the cake is large enough to result in cake that will fit your trifle bowl.

Cream 100g of soft, unsalted butter with 100g of caster sugar. Whisk in 2 medium eggs and fold in 100g of plain flour mixed with 1 tsp of baking powder. Bake until risen and golden, and a skewer comes out clean – around 20 minutes. Allow to cool in the pan, before turning out on to a wire rack. When ready to use, trim to fit your trifle bowl and then cut in half horizontally. Make sure the cake is completely cool before doing this.

Start on the jelly.

In a large pan, mix 500g of berries (I used all raspberries, but you should use any mix that suits) with 150 g of caster sugar, half a tsp of vanilla paste (or half a vanilla bean and seeds)** and 550mL of water. Simmer over low heat for at least 50 minutes. It doesn’t require any more attention than a quick stir every now and then so you can easily factor in a cup of tea during this.

Strain the fruit mix through a fine sieve and discard the solids. Now, if you want a really clear jelly you need to be a bit careful here and not force the mix through the sieve. If you’re not fussed, then you can be a bit more vigorous. Either way, the resulting solids should be discarded into a bowl for eating by the chef! Transfer 500mL of the liquid to a bowl and reserve the remainder.

Soak 5 sheets of titanium strength gelatine*** in a bowl of cold water for 5 minutes. Squeeze out the sheets of gelatine and whisk into the hot fruit liquid until dissolved. Add 150mL of pink moscato, juice of half a lemon and 40 mL of crème de cassis. Pour (or strain, if you’re going for the super clear jelly) half this mix into your trifle bowl. Scatter over approximately 150g of berries and refrigerate until set – approximately 2 and a half hours. Keep the remaining jelly mixture cool – if you put in the fridge be sure to take it out and give it a stir to make sure it doesn’t set!

Take the reserved fruit liquid and heat over a high heat until well reduced. Allow to cool and then refrigerate.

In a large bowl combine 600mL of sour cream, the finely grated rind of one lemon, 20g of icing sugar and half a tsp of vanilla paste (or the seeds from half a bean). Add milk to thin the mixture to a spreadable consistency.

Once the jelly has set, spread one third of your cream mixture over the jelly and top with one of your halves of sponge cake – fill any gaps with cake trimmings. Drizzle with about 60mL of crème de cassis. Scatter over another 100g (or so) of berries and pour over remaining jelly mixture. Refrigerate again – that’s another 2 or so hours for cups of tea …

Cups of tea and setting over, spread half your remaining cream mixture over the jelly, top with the sponge and drizzle over another 60mL (or so) of crème de cassis, before finishing off with the last of the cream mixture.

Cover and refrigerate overnight. When ready to serve, top with more fresh berries and the berry syrup.

This recipe easily served 10 people at Christmas lunch with plenty of left overs. It does keep well so that isn’t really a problem!


* One Perfect Ingredient is also available through Amazon US.
** Vanilla paste is widely available and is usually a combination of vanilla extract with vanilla seeds. It is cheaper than using vanilla beans and ideal for those of us prone to a little laziness.
***Titanium strength gelatine costs a lot ($10 for 12 sheets from David Jones in Adelaide) but as this recipe contains alcohol it’s money well spent. It should also be noted that the use of gelatine makes this recipe unsuitable for vegetarians and I suspect that in this case substituting agar-agar would not work.