Monday, January 11, 2010

Spaghetti Bolognese

I was looking for a recipe to use up some ground beef I had and knew I was craving something with an Italian flair.  I came across a recipe by Ellie Krieger that looked pretty good.  Ellie Krienger's recipes have always won over my heart  but then I read the reviews.  All 41 of them!  The majority said this was the biggest Ellie disappointment they had ever cooked; it was too dry, had no taste and tasted horrible.  Many people posted the changes they had made.  I went ahead and printed out the recipe anyway and adapted to our tastes and to use up a few pantry items.

This dish turned out phenomenal!  Another great feature is you can add or delete ingredients to suit your taste and/or pocketbook.

Here's my version:
3/4 pound thin spaghetti
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion finely chopped (about 1 cup)
1/2 bell pepper, chopped 
2 stalks celery, finely chopped (about 1/2 cup)
8 ounces mushrooms, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 sun dried tomatoes chopped
1 pound lean ground beef (90 to 95 percent lean)
2 teaspoons dried thyme
2 teaspoons driend basil
2 (14 1/2-ounce) can no salt added diced tomatoes with juice
1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
1 (6 oz.) jar marinated artichoke hearts
1/2 cup beef broth
1/4 cup evaporated milk or regular whole milk
1/4 teaspoon sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup grated Parmesan






Heat the oil in a large skillet over a medium-high heat. Add 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, the onion, bell pepper, and celery and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.





Add the mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes more, stirring occasionally.






Add the sun dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts garlic, ground beef, basil and thyme and cook until the meat is browned, breaking it up into small pieces as it cooks.





Stir in the tomatoes, tomato sauce and broth and cook for 5 minutes, or until sauce is thickened.





Stir in the milk and cook for 1 minute more. Season with sugar, salt and pepper.

Set a large pot of water on the stove to boil, cook and drain the spaghetti.



When the pasta is done, drain it, put it back in the pasta pot, add the sauce and stir the sauce and pasta together.





Put into serving bowls and top with Parmesan cheese.










41 comments:

  1. Ther is not one thing I would leave out of this recipe! De~lish!
    What a way to start of the week Katherine, you rock!

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  2. I adore Elie Krieger. This looks great! I've never added celery to pasta, will have to try this next!

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  3. Phenomenal it is - will definitely try this - so jam-packed with goodies - all warming. Love that you can tailor it to your taste.

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  4. This looks great!!!

    I happened to make a traditional bolognese sauce over the weekend. DD's birthday dinner request. I love your additions, and certainly give this a try soon.

    PS I'm taking a break from my blog for the time being.

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  5. That looks scrummy! I love the artichoke hearts and all real Blognese sauces have dairy of some kind so it is authentic, I need to try this!

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  6. Yum yum yum yum! I ended up eating this throughout my trip to Italy, and it is amazing how different it can be even in the country of its origins!

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  7. YOW what a great looking dish... perfect in this weather

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  8. congrats on the Foodbuzz news! Can't wait to meet you in February!

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  9. I want this for dinner tonight!

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  10. All the recipes on the food network website have conflicting reviews. It's so confusing! I tend to just use common sense when deciding whether or not to make a recipe.

    This one looks amazing! So many good things in that sauce.

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  11. Your version of her dish looks absolutely delicious.

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  12. What's the difference between speghetti bolganese and spegetti?

    This looks amazing, btw.

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  13. Katherine, this looks absolutely fantastic. I love the somewhat unexpected addition of the artichokes. Nice! I've always been a big fan of Ellie's recipes ... and, eh, the reviews - I find you need to take them with a grain of salt. Happily, you did, and now you've got a lovely, satisfying dish to thank for it. :)

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  14. This looks wonderful. My hubs loves the flavor of celery in everything, and I love anything that utilizes sun-dried tomatoes. I'll definitely be trying this recipe out.

    By the way, CONGRATS on winning with the trip to NYC!! How exciting, and I can say that I "know" you.

    ;) amy

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  15. what a great adaptation. i love ellie too!

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  16. I would love this one, Katherine. Anything with peppers and onions and celery in it has to be fabulous!!!! Sounds like that would be good with chicken also...

    Thanks for sharing.
    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  17. I don't think because someone gets it in a cook book it makes it automatically good! Your additions were perfect to create a great dish!

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  18. This looks and sounds so good! I have to try this!

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  19. That looks scrumptious! How could a bolognese recipe be bad? I just made some myself last week...it's always delicious. But this one looks fantastic!

    Looking forward to meeting you next month in NY for the Foodbuzz Electrolux event!

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  20. oh yeah love from scratch spag bol yummy

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  21. Hey--CONGRATULATIONS on winning the Electrolux contest!! Hurray for a trip to NY :)

    This looks excellent--Tavo would be nuts for it!

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  22. Pasta dishes are my favorite. I've made something similar from Pioneer Womans site and this looks like one I'd like to try also. I just saw your posts on pork and shrimp...Oh Katherine, they both are mouth watering...wow!!!!!

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  23. How much did you change it? Because it sounds totally wonderful.

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  24. Yum! This looks so good, I think we should become neighbors, you can do dinner and I will do dessert!

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  25. Congrats on the trip. How wonderful for you. Food: I am so hungry right now and looks sooooo good. Of course it would look good if I were stuffed! Thanks Katherine.

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  26. That sounds pretty good to me! I like Elie too - wonder why her version it had so many bad reviews? Sometimes I think that people tweak or don't follow the directions exactly and then fault the recipe when they didn't even follow it! Well, yours sure looks good!

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  27. Looks delicious, Katherine. And good for you not to take everyone's comments to heart, but make your own version. That's what great cooks do!

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  28. This version looks glorious. Pile it on. Too much would be just about right, grins!

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  29. The bolognese looks wonderful! Looking forward to meeting you in NYC at the Electrolux event!

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  30. Well, this looks delicious! Care to bring some to NYC?!?! ;) Looking forward to meeting you!

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  31. I made bolognese ziti over the holidays and it was a hit. This looks like a wonderful recipe- very authentic.

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  32. What a delicious dish! Chock full of tasty goodies! It's so hard to trust the reviews - I made some cinnamon rolls that had rave reviews and was so disappointed.

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  33. Sounds terrific. I love the idea of the milk in the sauce. I always use the trinity (celery included, of course). I guess I just have to Cajun-ize everything!

    Bookmarking this and trying it out soon!

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  34. you read my mind!! i've been wanting to make spaghetti bolognese for a while. looks delish!

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  35. Spaghetti bolognese sounds wonderful, yum!

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  36. Spaghetti and bologna? GROSS!

    (ha ha ha ha ha!)

    I take online recipe reviews with a grain of salt.....unless they said it was too salty!

    (ha ha ha ha ha!)

    Ok, no more jokes, damn that looks good!

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  37. Nummy!! I love bolognese sauce!!

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  38. I never trust reviews either.
    The spaghetti looks totally amazing!
    Perfect comfort food.

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  39. This Bolognese looks wonderful! Love the artichokes and sun dried tomatoes in it! Yummmie!

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  40. I don't know what was in the original recipe but this one looks terrific. Good job.

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  41. That's one thing about cooking, adaptation. It's the key to fixing something that will work for you!

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Thanks for stopping by, I enjoy reading your comments.

Katherine