I must apologise; it’s been two weeks since I held Bolognese night number 3, and I’ve yet to write my post – shame on me.  Whilst I don’t have any excuses, I am now back at school, and on a Saturday too – no life for me!  I did, with much pre-organisation and very careful menu planning, manage to host Bolognese night though 🙂  The lucky guests a.k.a. guinea pigs, were Karinda, and her fiancé Steve – a newbie to Bolognese night, though not to my cooking.

I must say I’m most impressed with Steve’s dedication (and Karinda’s patience!) as Steve was quite severely injured, yet still came – and to get here, had to get up 4(ish) sets of stairs on crutches, not to mention back down again at the end of the night – so a big thank you to both of you for your efforts to come.  And now, the food…

I’m not sure how many of you have heard of Gino D’Acampo, an Italian chef now living in London with a couple of television series on Foxtel.  I’ve cooked a few of his recipes, and all turned out delicious – a very traditional carbonara that I made for my Mum’s birthday last year with homemade bucatini pasta, as well as a scrumptious chicken marsala dish, first time I’ve cooked with marsala wine, so I knew I’d have to try Gino’s recipes for a Bolognese night – and this was the night (all recipes taken from Gino’s Hidden Italy – How to cook like a true Italian’).  I started cooking his meat ragu in the morning for about two hours, as well as prepped other bits and pieces to make up the menu, which changed slightly as some people cancelled and were unable to attend.

I like to try to keep the nibbles light, given there’s still three courses to come, so I was initially planning to start with an Italian style (of course!) aperitif consisting of a peach bellini – recipe apparently from Harry’s Bar in Venice and yes, I roasted and pureed the peaches – served with olive balls.   Steve doesn’t eat olives (honestly, you’re missing out!) and as we were only three, I tweaked the aperitif slightly and bought a stunning truffle pecorino cheese served with sliced pear, grissini as well as my favourite go to beetroot dip (with only three ingredients needed, so quick and easy to make) with some lavosh.  We were off to a great start!

We then moved to the table for entree, and as you can see from the pic, the table was laid with the most beautiful arrangement of flowers – I was lucky to receive them from my boss and team in honour of Office Professionals Day, which happily fell the day before Bolognese night.  The flowers were so bright and beautiful, just like a spring garden and they seemed almost magical, as if butterflies and fairies could jump out at any minute – thank you to my boss (though I’m still wondering who arranged it, as I usually do flower purchases!)!

Onto the entrée.  I served a mozzarella, parma ham and fig crostini – scrumptious, I really must say.  The lovely marriage of cheese just starting to ooze, with the contrast of the crispy bread and grilled parma ham along with the sweetness of the honey and balsamic glaze…I could eat it anytime, let me tell you! The others enjoyed it too judging by the clean plates.

Now, the main; what we’ve all been waiting for…Gino’s rich ragu, which by now has been cooking for a total of about five hours.  It looked amazing – it did indeed look rich, red (or orange, according to Steve) and tomatoey, and it smelled heavenly.  The ingredients in this sauce were quite different from the previous two I’ve made – it had the addition of minced lamb as well as minced beef, rosemary which I’ve not really seen in a Bolognese/ragu recipe before, along with three cans of chopped Italian tomatoes.  The rest of the ingredients were quite similar: red wine, beef stock, and the soffritto though it used red onion instead of a brown onion and tomato puree as opposed to tomato paste.

And the flavour, how did it do?  Well, first I must, as per my previous posts, share the expectations of the newbie guest, so here we go: Steve believes the sauce should bind the dish together, should be thick and reduced with infused flavours and Italian herbs. A beef and veal mix with onions, tomatoes and a deep richness.  Did we meet expectations?  Hmm, I think Steve summed it up actually, saying a ‘good homemade staple’ – it didn’t blow anyone away with the richness of flavour like the others, but it had a nice meaty consistency and Karinda did like the addition of herbs.  As for me, it wasn’t my favourite either, still very nice and if we’d had it for the first Bolognese night, I would have been most impressed but in the end, the traditional recipe supplied by Not Quite Nigella is still the best.

To finish off the night, we had Gino’s chestnut and chocolate cake.  I had to search high and low to find chestnut flour (thanks Taste Organic in Crows Nest, my new go to for any unusual or organic ingredients), and it was quite yummy, though perhaps next time I use the right size tin, as the smallest I had was a little large, so consequently I think it was a little dry.  Still delish though.

And the final score of the Bolognese? A not too shabby 10.5 average!

One final thing; I must share that as I’ve been writing this, I’ve been slow cooking a ragu in the oven and it smells AMAZING.  Whilst it won’t feature on a Bolognese night, if the taste matches the smell, I’ll share the recipe with you.

Until next time, Buon Appetito! xx