Ok, I realise I’m about three weeks overdue from writing, and have held Bolognese Night # 5 in the interim as well.  What?! I hear you gasp?  Well, in my defense, it was coming up on end of term for school.  Priorities People!  But thank you for your understanding 🙂

Onto Bolognese Night # 4, and what a lovely night we had!  In attendance we had Karinda (of course but sniff, Karinda won’t be at the next one), the lovely Jordana (we’re celebrating 10 years of friendship, yay!) and the beautiful Honor, a friend from work.

The evening started off very simply with a triple flavoured cheddar, some prosciutto, pancetta and crackers.   All washed down with champagne of course (Aubert et Fils – a lovely French champagne that won’t break the bank.  Though in saying that, there are so many Frenchies these days under $40, amazing!).  Well, washed down by all bar one of us, as one announced her pregnancy – congratulations!! – but I won’t reveal who.  Just in case.

Back to the food…all recipes for Bolognese Night # 4 are from Light of Lucia (delicious recipes, every single one, I swear), written by Luciana Sampogna, a Sydney based chef with a cooking school.  Click here for more details, or to buy the cookbook – you should, delicious!  Entrée (pic missing, sorry – got excited and forgot to take a pic!) was Olive con Mozzarella a warm olive and tomato sauce (my homemade napolitana sauce was used!) served with toasted bread and fresh mozzarella.  I truly was going to make mozzarella, or attempt to do so again, but didn’t quite get there so thank goodness I’d bought some, just in case.  Again, a lovely simple entrée – we don’t want anything competing with the Bolognese now, do we?

Dessert was a Torta di Noci, a walnut tart and oh my goodness, this was truly divine.  I hadn’t attempted to make pastry in years, and whilst I was so proud of the outcome, I’m pretty sure this pastry would come together, no matter what.  It was crumbly deliciousness with a light and fresh filling.  Divine.  Please make it.  You won’t regret it!

Now what were the expectations of the ladies who haven’t Bolognese’d (as opposed to ladies that lunch, I suppose or Ladies that Shoot their Lunch, lovely Chardonnay!)? Jordana was expecting “meaty, little bit of sweetness, not too acidic, no vegetables, not too sauce with a rich flavour” whilst Honor thought Bolognese should be “very tasty, authentic, not too sweet with a decent amount of sauce with beef and very flavoursome rich tomato flavour”.

The breakdown of the sauce:  This sauce had only 500g of beef and pork mince (equal proportions) as opposed to all of the others that had a minimum of 600g but up to 1kg, this one used 400ml, yes, 400ml, of milk (I used Pauls Smarter White which is only 2% fat, healthy, woohoo!), and this one had white wine compared to all others which used red wine, though more tomatoes than the first, with a 400g can that I pureed.  There also weren’t any herbs in this sauce, though it had some freshly grated nutmeg, which differs from the previous recipes.

Breaking News: We have a new winner!  Highest rated Bolognese yet! 15 out of 15!

WOW!!  This was one spectacular Bolognese.  It didn’t have the same intense meaty flavour like the first sauce, but the depth of flavours was superb and I think more suited to eating regularly.  Here are some of the comments:

Karinda: “Really liked the flavour of this one.  Not so heavy, very easy to eat”.  Scored 14 out of 15.

Jordana: “A lovely, light tasting Bolognese, meaty and full of flavour”.  Gave it a 15 out of 15!

Honor: “Exceptional Bolognese, worthy of being served at a restaurant.  I’d pay good money for it.  Well done Chef!”.  Scored a very decent 13.5 out of 15.

Thanks Ladies 😊 I think this one will be hard to beat, perhaps we’ve found the winner?!  Have any of you cooked this Bolognese before?  Will you try it?

Until next time (which won’t be far away), Buon Appetito! Xx