Everybody loves a sausage – the evolution of the spaghetti bolognese

This is not my first foray into “food writing”, I once was the food columnist for the University College Dublin Tribune for all of a week

During my tenure at the Tribune , I wrote two articles one a review of the eateries available on campus , the highlight of that article being the neon pink chicken tikka sandwiches available in the student shop  and the other a  “how to guide” for the  student kitchen . In this, my advice to male students that when cooking a romantic meal for  a girlfriend, spaghetti Bolognese would  not cut it ,   as it was boring and girls do not  feel romantic trying to slurp up tomatoey pasta . What a snob I was. Thankfully my attitude to spag bol has changed.

Spaghetti bolognese is a classic to Irish cuisine, a bastardised version of the rich ragu bolonges. Its shady heritage withstanding, it is comfort food to the Nth degree, meat in a rich tomatoes sauce with silky pasta and Parmesan (or cheddar if you’re a student) seasoning the top. But this is no a post on spag bol. This is post on the dish which has replaced spag bog in my household; it still is mince meat in a rich sauce with pasta. It is Jamie Oliver’s Jools Pregnant Pasta dish.

Sausages , carrot , clearly ,spring onion blitzed up in the food process , seasoned with fennel seeds , chili and oregano., fried off  , add a tin of tomatoes  simmer for ten minutes and Jamie’s your uncle , a delicious , filling , comforting cheap meal in fifteen minutes . It is the  aniseed from the fennel and heat from the chili which really lift this dish and make it addictive .

sausage pasta

Ingredients

500 g of penne pasta

2 sticks of celery

1 carrot peeled and chopped into three

4 spring onions

I red chili with out the seeds

400 grams of sausages

Teaspoon of fennel seeds

Teaspoon of dried oregano

4 cloves of garlic crushed

1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar

1 can of chopped tomatoes

Fresh basil

Grated Parmesan 

Extra virgin olive oil

• Put your pasta on to cook . I am on diet at the moment so I use wholewheat penne . but it's up to you what shape you like .

• Add the carrot , celery , chili and spring onion to the food processor , pulse until finally chopped . Next add the sausages , fennel seeds , and oregano , pulse in short burst until the sausage is chopped . What you want here is a rough sausage paste . not sausage slurry 

• warm a glug  of oil  in pan big enough  to toss the pasta in later over a medium heat . Plonk your sauges meat mixture in the pan . at this stage it looks kinda of disgusting like a big pink pork blacmange like mass  , but don't panic it will be all right on the night .



• fry the meat  over a medium heat , breaking it up with a wooden spoon , as you  would  beef mince until it is golden brown and crumbly . 

• next add your cloves of crushed garlic , tablespoon of balsamic . this will hiss  a bit . stir it around to scrap up all the crsuty bits  from the pan and then add your toms , season with salt and perper , stir and leave it blip away on low heat for about ten minutes 



• When your pasta is cooked , reserve a mugful of the cooking water . This water is to losen up your meat saunce with in case the sauce is too thick . Some time I need some time I don't . Don't worry if you find you have dumped the water down the sink , you can allway use a splash of water from the kettle .

• Losen out the sauce if it needed  and then tip the warm pasta into the sauce . Again we are diviating from the Irish custom of putting the meat sauce atop the pasta . It all ways taste better if you mix the pasta into the pan with the sauce as it means an even coating of sauce to pasta.

• Garnish with fresh basil  , parmesan and a drizzle of extra virgin oil  .

• Bring to the table and serve , yummy . 

marmalade factory

Cooking like fashion , acting and sports is about showing off . Why else would there be six different ways to make meringue when one would suffice , or why would there be meringue at all when egg white and sugar are perfectly formed in their own right .

I readily admit that I get a kick out of putting  a steaming  pot of stew or chili  down on the table  in front of my guests and all the ooh and ahhing ensues , I get to feel very smug and satisfied with myself . and believe me when I say that nothing give you the that smug cooking pay off like  gifting  pots of home made marmalade.

Marmalade like meringue is more than the sum  of its parts bitter orange , water and sugar combine  in an alchemical process to form a wondrous amber jam . It is delicious  and homemade marmalade is much better than shop bought as it has a depth of flavour that is achieved by slow cooking in small batches . No wonder it was Paddington Bear favourite food .

Making marmalade is an easy but laborious task , it took my father and I  about four and half hours to prepare and cook  3.6 kilos of fruit and the result is thirty pots of jam.

It is essentially a  three step process ,

1.  preparing  the fruit  and separating it into the juice, the the pulp and the rind 
2. cooking the juice and rind in order to soften the rind
3. adding the sugar and setting the jam

 Recipe

This recipe will make about 6 pots of jam ( as not every body is a marmalade maniac like me )

900 grams of Seville orange

2 lemons

2.25 litres of water

1.8 kg of sugar
pop sock ( clean of course )







•  Wash the oranges  and cut them in half . Get a wide  set bowl  , squeeze the juice of the orange in to the  bowl . Scoop the pulpand the pips out the orange into the same bowl that contains the juice .  You want to remove all the pulp to leave a clean rind behind . To do this I use a soup spoon .

• The next part is the most laborious part of the marmalade , shredding the peel . It is up to you  how thick or thin you want your peel . I normally roll half an orange peel up and slice it by hand with a knife.

• Put the shredded peel into a sauce pan big enough to cook the jam in . I find that a five litre saucepan is sufficient. 
• Place a sieve over the sauce pan and tip the bowl containing the pulp and juice in to it.  Add the water to the pan by washing the pulp and any remaining juice through the sieve.
•  Next add the lemon juice to the sauce pan and scoop put out the lemon pulp adding it to the orange pulp in the sieve.

• The pulp and pips contain the pectin which is needed  to set the jam  Place all the fruit pulp and pips into a clean pop sock and tie in a knot at the top to secure . You might think the use of a pop sock is tad unusual for jam making  but I never really have  clean piece of muslin or cheese cloth lying around the house , so I improvised . In case you are not the type of person who has either , a pop sock or muslin cloth , you can use a clean j cloth instead  . Add the pulp to the water and peel , securing it by tying  to the sauce pan handle .

• Simmer the mixture on a medium heat until the peel is soft  enough to be squished between your fingers .  roughly about two hours 
  
  
•  Once the peel is soft enough , remove the pop sock and squeeze it to remove any of the pection . It is a cloudy viscous liquid .  The best way to do this is to place the sock in a jug and bowl and use a wooden spoon .  Then pour the squeezed pectin back into the pot .

 

•   Add the sugar and bring the jam to the boil . It will expand and change from opaque to a clear orange colour .

• Boil the jam for about ten minutes to achieve setting point. You can test this by placing a small drop of jam on a cold saucer ,  wait for two minutes and push the jam with you finger . If there are wrinkles the jam is set , if not it needs another two minutes of cooking .
• When you have reached setting point , bottle the jam . I use a jug to do this .



• eh voila , your own homemade Seville marmalade