Pasta Bolognese inspired by Emily Blunt recipe

I know it sounds strange Emily Blunt inspiring recipes or even cooking. Yeah even I thought the same until I watched her on Ina Garten’s show Be my Guest on Food Network where she made a crackling Turkey Bolognese. I was pleasantly surprised at the ease with which she made it and had that recipe stuck in mind for months. Finally I created my version of it, totally inspired from Emily Blunt recipe and trust me its one of the best Bolognese I have made and had. I have made it 5th time today and I am absolutely sure this will be my go to recipe for any Bolognese.

What I love about the recipe is its one pot. Easy to make. The trick of pulsating the vegetables instead of chopping them is a winner. The addition of milk to the recipe is another winner which makes it much healthier and light. Simple, comfort food with some amazing flavours. Emily Blunt you are not my fav actress but fav cook!

So let’s dive in!

Ingredients

This serves 2 people

• 250 gms low fat lamb mince. You can use turkey or beef or chicken mince.
• 2-3 medium size carrots
• 3-4 sticks of medium size celery
• 1 medium red onion finely diced
• 2 medium size garlic cloves finely diced
• 2-3 green bay leaves
• 2 tsp paprika
• Salt and Pepper
• Olive oil to cook
• Butter 1-2 tbsp (optional however highly recommend to use it)
• Passata – 3/4 cup OR you can use tomato paste puree thinned with water, ensure you cook it for a longer time than the passata
• 1/2 cup milk
• Parmesan – 1/4th cup for sauce and extra for garnishing
• Parsley, basil or coriander for garnishing
• 150 gms pasta of your choice.

Method

For the pasta

• In a pan bring water to boil. Add salt.
• Cook pasta as per instructions

For the sauce

• In a hot pan add 1 tbsp olive oil and little butter. You can only use olive oil but butter will add an amazing flavour.
• Add onion and fry for 1-2 min.
• Add chopped garlic and cook for 1-2 min. Do not let it burn or brow.
• Now add the mince and mix it with the onion and garlic. Cook till it becomes brown and releases its fat.
• While its cooking in a food processor or mixer add roughly chopped celery and carrots and pulse it at very short intervals. What we want here is the vegetables to be like mince but not turn into a paste. So be careful. If required shake the mixer or mix it after 1-2 pulses to evenly get the texture.
• Once the mince is brown, add the vegetables to the mixture and combine well. Add the paprika.

• Now add the passata and mix well. Add the bay leaves.
• Cover and cook for few minutes.
• Now add the milk and mix well.
• Cover and cook for 5-7 minutes.

• Once the sauce is cooked, add the drained pasta.
• If the sauce is dry, spoon few ladles of pasta water. My sauce was not dry but I did add 2 ladles of pasta water so it gets a creamy texture and flavour.
• Once everything is mixed, add 1/4th cup grated parmesan.
• Add 1-2 tsp of butter. Again this is optional but I highly recommend you do it.
• Cover and let it cook for few minutes on low heat. Everything is cooked, you just need to get all he flavours together. An alternative approach as followed by Emily is to shove it in hot oven and cook for few minutes to get a really bubbling creamy saucy pasta.

Your delicious lip smacking pasta bolognese is ready to be devoured.

Service in pasta bowls with grated parmesan, basil or parsley and a drizzle of olive oil.

Recipe Variations

All my recipes are very flexible, you can change and construct even a new one of your own. For this one also I have few ideas where you can make some variations.

You can use red pasta sauce instead of passata. A lot of us may not get passata in the country we are. More popularly available is pasta sauce. You can use it as long as you understand the flavours of the sauce and balance it in the recipe. A pasta sauce may have basil and garlic in it, so you may want omit or reduce the garlic in this recipe if using pasta sauce.

Using cream instead of milk is a classic pasta variation. I have tried both and like the milk better as it keeps the pasta lighter. But feel free to use cream, i suggest single cream or a dairy alternative like Elmlea if you are vegan.

Use any mince or go vegetarian by adding cauliflower or broccoli or both to your mince. As I have mentioned before Emily Blunt’s recipe uses Turkey mince which healthier than red meat mince. Feel free to use a mince of your choice and availability. For vegetarians, I would suggest to add 100 gms each of cauliflower and broccoli or either. Use the pulsating technique to create a bolognese texture and cook all the veggies together as explained in the recipe above.

If you try do share in comments how it turned out.

You can also try One Pot Meatballs and Veggie Orzo Bake which is an equally crackling one pot meal. Also if you want to go more mediterranean try my easy lamb youvetsi

Until next time, eat healthy!