Sooo I’ve been a little delayed with writing about Bolognese Night # 8, which was in October.  And it’s now March.  Oops.  During that delay though, I completed my Diploma in Interior Design (Yay! Go me!), adopted another kitty, made croissants from scratch and graduated, amongst other things.  If anyone you know needs design assistance (or croissants) – you know where I am…

I do have to admit I can’t quite recall now what lovely drinks were enjoyed through the evening.  Though I do remember that we had Champagne, Chardonnay and Shiraz.  The Shiraz was The Good Paddock from Fowles Wines – I recommend it.

You can rest easy though as I have the memory of an elephant when it comes to food and clearly recall what I cooked!  Not to mention I took pictures.  That helps the memory immensely!  So, without further ado…the menu:

Nibbles: Caprese Sliders, Pear Crisps with Goat Cheese and Pine Nuts
Entrée: Salt Baked Beetroot with Mozzarella and Lemon Salsa
Bolognese: Emma Knowles’ Bolognese
Dessert: Raspberry and Chocolate Mousse

The nibbles were a delight!  The caprese sliders ridiculously easy yet so yummy, and the pear crisps a delicious contrast.  Who knew pears could make such great crackers?

My obsession with cheese continues, and whilst I tried to find burrata, I settled for buffalo mozzarella (though really, can you call it settling?  No.) in the entrée.  Normally I’m not really a citrusy person, but the freshness and sharpness of the salsa contrasted so nicely with the creamy mozzarella and the sweetness of the beetroot.  I hope you make this entrée yourselves, truly scrumptious.

And so, the main event.  The Emma Knowles Bolognese recipe was sent to me by a work colleague in Brisbane, and it’s reminiscent of a combination of other recipes yet still different.  Therefore it had to enter the Bolognese comp!  The recipe contains the usual ingredients, plus a couple of not so usual: meat (veal and pork), pancetta, soffrito, garlic, dried porcini mushrooms, sage, oregano, tomato paste, red wine, beef stock, 400g canned tomatoes, cream and red wine vinegar.  From memory, I think this is the first that uses red wine vinegar, which I love in other simpler sauces I cook to add flavour (fast midweek cooking!).  The cooking method though differs slightly, in that it cooks the meat first, then the veggies, herbs and garlic (note I omitted garlic from this recipe, as Bolognese recipes do not contain garlic).  After adding and cooking the tomato paste, the stock is added with water in increments, and cooked like a risotto in that the stock/water is added in a total of three increments once the previous addition has evaporated.  Then the remaining stock/water is added along with the tomatoes and simmered gently until it has all reduced to a sauce consistency.  At this point, the herbs are removed, the cream is added, then the vinegar, seasoned with salt and pepper and served with plenty of parmesan.  The verdict?

Karinda: “Flavoursome tasty sauce that looked good on the plate. I now expect my sauces from Sara to not be too red or too brown and this one was a good colour.
I thought the balance between meat, tomato and herbs resulted in an easy to eat bolognese. Overall I give it a 12/15.”

Guest who shall not be named: “A smooth texture with complex herb undertones and notes of dairy. Robust, earthy and bold meaty flavour that bound to the pasta giving you a culinary explosion on every fork. Reminiscent of winters in front of an open fire and homemade bolognese passed down through the generations. 13/15”.

The result is a not too shabby 3rd place with a score of 12.5!  It seems the Light of Lucia is firmly entrenched in the winning position, with second place the 1967 recipe.  But I’m not calling it just yet…there are still a couple of recipes to go.

Finally for dessert.  I wanted to serve chocolate, but nothing too heavy.  I decided on a raspberry and chocolate mousse.  It looked great, it started off great too.  The raspberry mousse was delish!  But then the chocolate, oh the chocolate.  It was rather sad, as the flavour was lovely – not too sweet, just perfect.  But it was like rubber.  Had a conversion fail it seems.  It happens.  And friends forgive you for it.  Or eat it anyway!

And now, I make you a solemn promise.  It will not be another 6 months between posts.  It will be less.  Until then…

Buon Appetito! xx