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1
Make caramelized onions using 2 onions.
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2
Make the grilled eggplant, using eitheror, and peel the eggplant.
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3
Cut up the flesh as small as possible and put into a bowl.
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4
Put the A. ingredients in a cold pan, and start cooking the garlic in oil over low heat.
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5
When the pan has a nice garlic fragrance and the garlic is lightly colored, add the celery and carrots.
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6
Add the C. ingredients and saute while shaking the pan.
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7
Saute the vegetables for about 5 minutes while stirring constantly, to draw out the sweetness of the vegetables.
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8
This is very important.
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9
Add the ground meat to the pan.
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10
Set the heat to medium.
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11
Add a generous amount of the nutmeg from the C. ingredient list, and saute the ground meat until it is completely crumbly.
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12
Add the red wine.
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13
Turn up the heat a bit and simmer well until it's almost all evaporated.
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14
Add the B. ingredients to the pan, along with the caramelized onions and grilled eggplant you made in Steps 1 and 2.
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15
Add any liquid that came out of those vegetables too.
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16
When the sauce comes to a boil, transfer the pan to the burner with the weakest heat.
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17
Set it to the lowest level possible (level 1) and simmer the sauce for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
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18
Crush the tomatoes and eggplants occasionally with a wooden spatula, and simmer the sauce well.
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19
I leave the sauce alone for the first hour.
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20
After that I stir it up every 15 minutes or so.
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21
Be careful not to let it burn.
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22
Simmer until it's reduced to half its original volume.
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23
The volume is important rather than how long I say to cook it.
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24
The cooking time will vary depend on how high the cooking heat is and how well the pan you use transmits heat.
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25
The sauce should be simmered long enough that it becomes quite thick - it should drop with a plop when you scoop some up with a wooden spatula.
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26
The sauce will become very richly flavored.
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27
Add the C. ingredients or other dried herbs of your choice to the sauce, and it's done.
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28
You can eat it right away, but let it rest overnight if possible.
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29
It will taste even richer and more delicious the next day.
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30
To cook the pasta the regular way: Put 3 liters of water in a large pot and bring to a boil.
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31
When it has almost reached a boil, add 2 tablespoons of salt (1% salt).
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32
The amount of salt you add to the pasta water is important since it decides the flavor of the finished dish, so please measure it out properly.
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33
Put the pasta in the hot water, and cook it for 30 seconds to a minute less than indicated on the package.
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34
Cook the pasta over low heat.
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35
Put the cooked and drained pasta in the frying pan with the sauce.
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36
(For every 100 g of pasta, use 200 ml of sauce.)
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37
Just before the pasta is cooked, add about 30 to 40 ml of the pasta water to the sauce.
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38
(Keep the heat under the sauce very low so that it doesn't reduce.)
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39
I added some grilled eggplant to the sauce here.
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40
When you are adding things to the sauce, put them in at this stage.
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41
(Personally I prefer a simple pasta with the sauce only.)
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42
Add the cooked and drained pasta in Step 21 or Step 22, and raise the heat under the frying pan to low-medium.
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43
Mix to coat the pasta with the sauce.
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44
Transfer the pasta to a serving plate and enjoy.
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45
Grate on some Parmesan cheese to taste.
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46
The caramelized onions and grilled eggplant add depth to the sauce.
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47
You can barely tell that there are eggplants in the sauce.
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48
You may think that there's a lot of work involved in prepping the ingredients for this sauce, but there actually isn't.
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49
You can make a large batch and freeze it.
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50
The sauce can be used in many ways, not just with pasta.
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51
With just a little effort you can make a delicious Bolognese.
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52
Please give it a try...
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53
Addendum about the grilled eggplant: Soak the eggplant in water to remove any bitterness.
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54
Put some garlic oil on a grill pan, and put on the eggplant.
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55
Season with salt and pepper.
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56
When the eggplant has grill marks, brush the surface with more garlic oil and turn over.
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57
Salt and pepper the other side and continue grilling.
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58
is a tomato-curry flavored Bolognese sauce.
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59
Please take a look at that too.
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60
There's a carrot hater in our family so I didn't add any this time, but I do when I serve this to guests.
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61
The carrot is a must really.
