Real Spaghetti Bolognese (listen up, Milan!)

Italian Dinner Recipes

1 pound spaghetti, linguine or other pasta 1 quart homemade tomato sauce for canning 1 pound ground beef 1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil 1/4 cup fresh ricotta cheese

My husband and I stopped at one of those restaurants in the Galleria (left of the Duomo) in Milan, the ones that have outside tables. I ordered Spaghetti Bolognese. What was served to me (40 minutes later) was an insult – spaghetti with almost no sauce, and one would need a microscope to see any meat in it! My advice to any and all is "Don't eat in the Galleria." This is what Spaghetti Bolognese should aspire to: Listen up, Milan! Cook the ground beef in a heavy pan in the olive oil while heating the sauce in a separate saucepan. When the beef is cooked through, add the beef to the sauce. There will be a lot of meat ratio to sauce - this is a good thing! Simmer the sauce, uncovered, while cooking the spaghetti to al dente. Just before pasta is done, add the ricotta cheese to the sauce and stir in slowly. Serve spaghetti in a huge pasta bowl with the bolognese sauce on top. Enjoy! -Diana

Submitted by Diana Bogue
Contributed on: Wednesday December 21st, 2005 and modified on Tuesday December 18th, 2007