Spaghetti Bolognese Ragu

Dairy free, Egg free, Gluten free Bolognase and Lasagne/Moussaka

I have not made Spaghetti sauce exactly the way the EDC book suggested I make it in the entire time I have owned a TM until yesterday. I learnt to make salsa (as my friend Gladdys calls it) when I lived in Sydney and I have never used a jar of dolmio since. Gladdys is an exceptional cook and she would make this with gnocchi (from scratch) to go with it. I am not been able to enjoy instant gnocchi now either... fortunately the TM also makes fantastic fresh gnocchi and it is easy... it was one of the first things I made with my sister's TM waaay before purchasing my own.

It used to take a lot of chopping to make the salsa but for the longest time I have chopped everything in the TM and transferred all ingredients to the slow cooker to finish off... it certainly saved my wrists, elbows and feet from RSI. Before TM; it was not uncommon to find a hair in the salsa which was completely embarrassing but it was a lot of stirring to get it right. My family forgave me because it was yummy.

The first time I tried cooking the salsa in the TM; I changed the recipe around, I just did not see how it would work “dumping it all in together”. It certainly was not cooked for long enough in my opinion; and when it came out of the TM, the sauce was very fine and I liked mine chunky.

It took two things to make me try it exactly the way it is in the recipe... hearing my family member tell me how easy and nice it was (but I didn't really trust her... her old method of making SB was browning mince and tossing in a can of heinz spaghetti) and much more-so reading a blog and recipe by Iron Chef Shelly here. Hey if it was good enough for an Iron chef it was good enough for me I decided.

MyCook instructions

1. Heat oil in jar. 120c, 1 minute, sauté. Set timer again for 5 mins, 120c, sauté Add onion, garlic, carrot, oregano and basil into jar in that order. In the last few minutes add celery

2. Add minced beef and pork, bay leaf, salt and nutmeg and cook for 8 mins, 120c, sp 1

3. Add remaining ingredients and cook 15 mins, 120c, sp 1, MB on, take it off for last 5 minutes to allow sauce to reduce

Serve on a bed of cooked pasta. For Carb/egg free use zoodles or Carrot spaghetti.
 

Other Thermo-machine instructions 
 
1. Place celery, carrot, onion, garlic, oregano and basil into mixing jug and chop 5 sec/speed 7.

2. Add oil, minced beef and pork (to rice basket add salt and pepper and drizzle over wine), bay leaf, and nutmeg and cook for 10 min/steam temp/ measuring cup on

3. Add remaining ingredients and cook 20 min/100 C/Speed 1

Serve on a bed of cooked pasta. For Carb/egg free use zoodles or Carrot spaghetti.

Pasta Dough

300g Gluten Free flour (100 of which can be milled brown rice)
1 tbs EVOO (olive oil)
3 eggs (have a spare)

Add all ingredients to jar.

Press the knead button (looks like a rolling pin on MyCook, wheat symbol on TM)... If you do not have a knead button mix sp 6 for 10 seconds, then sp 1, 1-2 mins

Knead till it looks like playdough. If it is not coming together properly add half an egg shell of water to the mix.

Roll flat and put through pasta roller or scroll it up into a sausage shape and cut into similar size circles with a knife. Un-roll... looks a little wonky but is delish.

I still prefer chunky salsa, but I love that I can add heaps of veggies and Honey does not notice. I have to admit however I love the finer salsa for making lasagne. There is also one other slight tweak I did... I used entirely Beef mince, changed the oregano to Italian herbs and left out the nutmeg... I just couldn't make myself do it. I also make it with all wine and no water now, never use tinned tomatoes always passata.
 
 

So this morning I rolled out some pasta and assembled the lasagne, it made 3 layers (I usually get two)... or if I am completely lazy I just dump the salsa in then some small pasta like spirals (par-cooked) and top with TM cheese sauce. The benefit of this is you can use a round bowl (and my MIL potted me a special one to use- but for this time; I had not made enough sauce for it and my rolling pin would not cope with making a pasta layer that wide).

I used the scraps to make spaghetti and kind of risoni (You cannot buy GF risoni- I usually just swap it for rice in recipes) and popped them in the fridge for tomorrow.

My first attempt at fresh lasagne was using a lentil bolognese recipe here I of course just popped it all in the TM to cook.As I had also made cabonara that day for dinner, the vego lasagne was popped into the fridge for lunches. I ate some cold for breakfast the next day and the most incredible thing of all was that the cold pasta was not rubbery, so Honey and I had some for lunch and he commented that he preferred the beef one but the lentil lasagne was not too bad. Breakfast this morning was the last slice, reheated and it was nice that way too. Therefore I have a new favourite pasta... yea!

Our beef Lasagne was very yummy, we finished off the whole thing in one go. For df lasagne use coconut milk and oil to make bechamel sauce, add nutritional yeast for a cheesy flavour when sauce is finished cooking. For egg free use finely sliced potatoes or eggplant instead of pasta for a delicious moussaka. 

JUDIE