Fifty-fifty bolognese

Main: Fifty-fifty Bolognese
The Sunday Magazine

Dessert: Vanilla Slice
Wendy’s version

Hello everyone,

Here we are slowly and gently entering back into the Wine Wednesday’s with the blessing of the Premier. I do hope you and yours remained well through this difficult and unusual time. Cooking was certainly something that people seemed to relish doing during the lockdown if the super market shelves were any indication. It’s funny how things work out because my oven died and I had to wait a month for the part so, in fact, the timing was rather good. I must say though I got very titchy towards the end because I had been collecting all these recipes from various magazines and papers (yes, more recipes) and I really wanted to try them.

What we have this week is a beautiful rich bolognese that is super healthy. It contains 50% vegies and 50% meat – this could be beef, chicken, pork or a combo.

The vegies are cooked a little at a time. The fragrance of the onion and garlic being cooked off for around 10 minutes really got my mouth watering before I even got to add the mince. The remainder of the vegies were added and then cooked for another 8 minutes before the meat of choice went in.

Mine was beef. Now I have usually made spag bol very quickly – a family staple and a fast meal on a busy night. Not so this one because it is simmered for one hour and this my loverlies makes for a smooth and flavoursome delight! Add some garlic bread and a simple salad and there was happiness not just for the food but also just for the joy of being together with at least two of the family. 10/10 was the score back on the board.

The beauty of the recipe is that it freezes so well and I also divided it in two and used the second half for a pie by simply popping it in a pie plate and using a sheet of puff pastry on the top, brushed with beaten egg. Mashed potato, peas and carrots added and you don’t get much more Aussie than that – all out of an Italian recipe.

Vanilla slice is something I have been trying to perfect for the longest time. My mother used to make it and I just loved it, however, I have never been able to get the same results so during the lockdown I did some experimenting and ended up combining a couple of recipes (from the Sunday paper and Women’s Weekly “Food”) and came up with the one I have attached to this weeks blog. I really think you are going to like it. It makes enough to feed 10 people and it’s not something that freezes well so save it for a time when you can have a larger gathering at home. One recipe called for one egg and the other called for 8 eggs which I considered to be rather extravagant – I used only two. Technically a vanilla slice is a french mille-feuille which is a thick custard sandwich and this recipe creates a soft slightly mushy version in the French style. It was absolutely scrumptious and will be a regular in our house from now on. 9/10 only because my younger son doesn’t like custard – seriously!

So everyone, we are now back in operation and I will chat to you next week – until then…..

From my table to yours with love x

½ c olive oil
1 large onion (cut into ½ cm cubes)
5 cloves garlic (roughly chopped)
500 g mixed vegetables (i.e. broccoli, mushrooms, eggplant and carrots cut into ½ cm cubes)
500 g beef, pork or chicken mince
¾ c red wine
700 g tomato passata
1 tsp salt (plus extra for pasta water)
¼ tsp dried oregano
2 tbsp tomato sauce
750 g dried spaghetti
2 tbsp finely shredded parsley
freshly ground pepper to serve
freshly grated parmesan cheese to serve

Heat a large, heavy-based saucepan or casserole over low-medium heat, add the ½ cup of oil, onion and garlic and fry for about 10 mins until fragrant. Add the vegetables and fry for a further 8 minutes, stirring regularly until softened and lightly browned. Add the mince and fry for 3 mins until it begins to brown, then add the wine, passata, salt, oregano, tomato sauce and 1 cup of water, stirring to scrape up any fond from the base of the pot. Cover, reduce to a low heat and simmer for 1 hour, stirring once or twice.
Bring a large pot of water to the boil and add salt. Add the spaghetti and boil for one minute less than the packet directions, or until al dente. Remove the spaghetti from the pot and add it directly to the bolognese sauce with an extra 2 tablespoons of olive oil and about 2 tablespoons of the pasta water. Stir well over medium heat for about 1 minute to combine the pasta and sauce. Serve immediately with the shredded parsley, black pepper and parmesan.

Vanilla Slice

2 sheet frozen puff pastry
½ c castor sugar
½ c cornflour
¼ c custard powder
2 c milk
½ c cream
30 g unsalted butter
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
100 g white chocolate (melted)

Icing

1½ c icing sugar
1 tsp soft butter
¼ c passionfruit pulp

Preheat oven to 180°. Place each sheet of puff pastry between 2 pieces of non-stick baking paper then sandwich between 2 flat biscuit trays. Bake 20-25 minutes until deep golden brown. Allow to cool on wire rack. Brush one side of each with the melted chocolate.
Cut both to fit a 20cm square lined cake tin. (I line with foil coming up the sides. Place one piece of pastry chocolate side up in the tin.
Combine sugar, cornflour and custard powder and mix well in a medium saucepan. Over medium heat stir in combined milk and cream. Add butter and heat for approx 3 mins or until mixture boils. Reduce heat, simmer for 3 mins or until thick and smooth. Remove from heat and add egg yolks and vanilla past. Stir to combine. Cover surface with plastic wrap and cool to room temperature.
Spread the custard mixture over pastry and place remaining pastry chocolate side down. Spread with passionfruit icing. Refrigerate for 3 hours.

Icing

Combine all ingredients.

Fifty-fifty bolognese