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Cooking with Wine

Wine is a great ingredient to cook with because it adds flavor to the food. Cooking with wine includes using wine in reduction sauces, as a flavoring or for marinating. If you add wine to a recipe, it intensifies and enhances the food's flavors. Various types of wine can be used in cooking - red, white and even champagne. Blush wine tends to be too subtle to give much flavor though.

Wines labeled as "cooking wines" and stored in the seasoning aisle of a supermarket can be very salty and probably will not do much for your recipe. It is best to choose a wine that you enjoy drinking. In addition, this means you can drink any that is left over! Cooking with wine offers many possibilities. Beef stew with red wine is delicious, as are prawns in champagne sauce and chicken in a creamy, white wine sauce.

If you have kept an opened bottle of red or white wine in the refrigerator for more than a few days, it might have begun to oxidize. This reduces its appeal for drinking but it can still be used in cooking. If a wine has been opened for longer and is beyond the state you would happily drink it in, do not use it for cooking because the recipe taste will be affected.

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A Picture of Delicious Spaghetti in a Bolognese Sauce Recipe - makes a lovely alternative to your classic marinara sauce and will give you a delightful twist on boring old spaghetti. The dish is topped with fresh parmesan cheese and fresh basil for a delightful dish.

Delicious Spaghetti in a Bolognese Sauce Recipe

This tasty spaghetti Bolognese is a classic Italian recipe. Bolognese, or bolognaise in French, is a meat based pasta sauce originating from Bologna in Italy. The finely chopped vegetables complement the rich Bolognese sauce and the addition of red wine further improves the meaty flavor.

The spicy, peppery flavor of a Syrah makes it a great California wine both to add to the Bolognese sauce and to drink with this dish. A fruity Zinfandel or gentle Merlot could also be served with this classic spaghetti Bolognese recipe.

Classic Spaghetti Bolognese

Ingredients -

1 lb minced beef
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
6 oz carrots, finely diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 sticks celery, finely diced
2 cans chopped tomatoes
5 fl oz red wine
5 fl oz beef bouillon
1 tablespoon tomato puree
2 bay leaves
1 lb dried spaghetti
2 tablespoons grated parmesan
2 tablespoons torn, fresh basil leaves

Preparation:

Heat the oil in a medium pan over a moderate heat. Brown the beef and drain the fat from the pan. Add the onion, garlic, celery, and carrots and cook until the vegetables are softened. Do not brown them. This will take about 15 minutes. Add the tomato puree, chopped tomatoes, red wine, bay leaves and beef bouillon. Stir continuously then turn down the heat and cook until the celery and carrots are soft. This will take about an hour.

Stir the sauce to break up the meat and tomatoes every now and then. This makes the flavor richer. Remove the bay leaves just before serving. Cook the pasta according to the pack instructions. Drain and serve with the Bolognese sauce, garnished with Parmesan cheese and torn basil leaves.

Serves 4

Wine Suggestion:

Which Wine to Serve with Delicious Spaghetti Bolognese Recipe

Different Ways to Make Bolognese Sauce

An authentic Bolognese sauce includes tomato paste or tomatoes in a rich sauce. Meat and other ingredients are added too. Thick, large pasta shapes are often used in a Bolognese recipe and spaghetti is also popular. The reason for this is that thick, large pasta shapes such as linguini, tagliatelle, or fettuccine suit the meat better than thin, fine types of pasta. Outside of Italy, you can find many a spaghetti in a Bolognese sauce recipe with much more tomato sauce and different vegetables. This means the classic recipe is changed considerably.

Spaghetti Bolognese has a soffrito as the sauce base, which is a mixture of flavorful and aromatic vegetables like carrots, onion, and celery, fried in butter or olive oil. Meat and milk or cream is added, red or white wine is added next and the sauce is allowed to reduce. This results in a flavorful rich broth. The stock and tomato paste go in next and butter and salt are added. The sauce is simmered until the meat breaks down.

How to Serve Spaghetti Bolognese

You can either toss the pasta with the Bolognese sauce or serve the sauce on top of a bed of pasta. Some cooks like to grate fresh Parmesan over the dish and others like to let the natural flavor come through without the addition of cheese. Salt and pepper can be added before or after serving the Bolognese. A rich red wine such as Syrah or Zinfandel really enhance the flavor of this great Bolognese recipe. Even if you use a white wine in your recipe, you can serve this meaty dish with a robust red.