Linguini Bolognese

There's an epic debate that takes place in our house each and every time we want to make spaghetti:  thick or thin sauce.

I am of the belief that it doesn't always need to be this thick, chunky sauce that's heavy.  Occasionally, I enjoy a lighter sauce that's not-so-heavy and lets the pasta shine through. Mike, on the other hand, wants his spaghetti served with sauce and meatballs each and every time.  He'd also be happy with canned Ragu sauce.  (which I banned from our house entirely)

Since we always seem to have this debate, tonight I decided to ditch the spaghetti noodles all together and use linguini--because if we use a different noodle, we can't have the debate, right?  It's inherently NOT spaghetti and I can do as I please.

I've been watching a TON of travel shows lately, mostly because they talk about traditional cuisine--which I find inspiration from.  Last week, I saw a show on Italy and it showcased traditional sauces from various regions and I decided to use that as my starting point.  I was interesting to see that the traditional ragu  actually uses milk--so I figured I'd give it a shot.  Surprisingly, it was fantastic.  

This meal came together really quickly, so it's certainly going to be a mid-week work-in.

Linguini Bolognese

Ingredients:

3/4 lb ground beef
1/2 package linguini noodles, cooked al-dente. (reserve 1/2 cup pasta water)
4 tbs butter
1 tbs olive oil
1/2 white onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 can whole tomatoes (28 oz)
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp nutmeg
1-2 tsp fresh thyme
1 tsp fresh parsley
1/2 cup milk

Directions:

In a medium pan, melt butter and olive oil.  Add onions and cloves.  Cook until translucent.  Add ground beef and cook until no longer pink.  DO NOT DRAIN.  (Odd, I know, but trust me on this one!) Add tomatoes, crushing with the back of your spoon.  Add salt, pepper, nutmeg, thyme, parsley and milk.  Bring to boil, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for about 30 minutes, or until sauce is thickened.

Once sauce is done, gradually add sauce to pasta and mix.  Add in a bit of the past water--the starches will help the noodles marry with the sauce and it thicken up.  There's no real science to how much you add back in, just eyeball it--and add based on your desired consistency.


Now, Mike still likes his sauce thick, with meatballs...so that's how we'll do spaghetti.  When I'm in need of a different version, we'll just call it linguini bolognese.