The basic sauce you need to know:
Espagnole (brown sauce): This is made of dark roux of cooked flour and butter as well as brown stock made from roasted bones and vegetables.
Béchamel: a basic white sauce that is made from milk, butter and flour. Sometimes cheese is added.
Vinaigrette: This is simple oil and vinegar sauce. Sometimes other ingredients are added, such as garlic, shallots and herbs.
Hollandaise: a mixture of egg, oil or butter, and mayonnaise.
| SIMPLE CHEESE CAKE | |
2 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese 3 eggs 2/3 c. granulated sugar 1/8 tsp. almond extract In large mixing bowl, beat cheese until light and creamy. Add eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition. Add sugar and almond. Beat until smooth, thick and lemon colored. Pour into greased 10 inch pie plate. Bake at 300 degrees for 50 minutes. Cool 20 minutes. Meanwhile, beat together: 2 c. sour cream 1 tsp. vanilla 3 tbsp. granulated sugar Spoon over pie. Return to oven and bake 15 more minutes. Chill several hours. | |
Ingredients: (For a printable PDF shopping list click here, or right-click this link and choose 'Save target/link as' to save the list for later.)
1 x 395g/14oz tin of plum tomatoes
1 medium onion (peeled & roughly chopped)
1 medium carrot (peeled & (roughly chopped)
500g/17.5oz minced beef
2 teaspoons of tomato purée/paste
Medium glass of red wine
8 washed and torn basil leaves
Salt & pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
Equipment:
Large pan/skillet
Vegetable peeler
Food blender/mixer (not essential, but I recommend this handheld mixer
Timing
Approximately 1 hour
Step 1 – Wash and roughly chop the celery.
Peel and chop the onion and carrot (remembering to chop off the carrot’s ends).
Step 2 – Blend these ingredients a few seconds more in a food mixer if you have one. blender for a few quick seconds. If you don’t have a blender, just chop them more finely.
Step 3 – Cover the base of your pan with olive oil and add 2 full tablespoons of this chopped veg mixture (freeze the remainder for next time - it works for this lasagna's base too).
Put the pan on a medium heat hob, then cook and regularly stir it for 3-4 minutes (in other words, until the veg starts to soften and slightly brown).
Step 4 – Pour in half the wine and leave it heating for 2 or 3 minutes (here we’re evaporating away most of the alcohol, leaving just the flavour of the grapes).
Step 5 – Throw in the mincemeat and mash it up with a spoon (wooden is best). Add half a handful of salt (roughly 1 flat tablespoon) and a pinch or two of pepper.
Cook and stir this mixture on a medium heat for 15 mins. This will start the beef cooking). If the sauce is dry, add a little more wine (apply this rule throughout this bolognese sauce recipe, right until you finish the glass of wine).
Step 6 – After 15 mins, add the basil leaves, tomato purée, plum tomatoes (not the liquid from their tin). Give this a couple of minutes or more – for the toms to soften.
Step 7 – When these tomatoes feel soft under your spoon, break them up, crank down the heat to low (example, setting 2 out of 6) and set your timer for 30 mins.
Stir every 3 or 5 minutes or so.
Note: This is already an Italian style approach to sauce cooking, but many Italian cooks would actually slow this process down, using a lower heat hob and cooking the sauce for a couple of hours. Feel free to do this if you have the time but don’t worry if not… it’ll still be ultra-tasty.
When your sauce has thickened up (like that in the top picture), it’s done!
Done!
Combine this sauce with spaghetti or your favourite short pasta, a glass or two of red wine (I love this Castello di Verrazzano
And next: Now you’ve enjoyed this super-simple bolognese sauce, there’s no reason not to tackle your first mouth-watering meat lasagna (you’ll find this easy because its sauce filling is almost identical).
