Bolognese sauce questions

Lovely site - I'm inspired! Just back from England where an Italian relative cooked divine pasta.

Two questions about your bolognese sauce recipe:

1. In step 3, you say to add 2 tablespoons of the veg mixture. When are the rest of the vegetables to be added?

2. Could you be more specific about the salt? Half a handful sounds like a lot.

I'm delighted with the recipe because it looks like it achieves the chunky meaty sauce my English husband remembers and craves from the old country!

Thanks,

Susan Harwood.

Answer: Hi Susan, good question regarding the veg mixture. I've been asked this before, so I'll update the relevant pages to make it more clear.

In short, you only need the 2 tablespoons of veggie mix. So in effect you could use half the veg ingredients listed, but I wrote one full carrot etc. as I normally just freeze the remainder of the 3-veg mix.

That's because this 3-veg sauce base is used in lots of other Italian sauces, such as most of the lasagna fillings on this page.

As for the salt, if making the sauce to serve 4, start off with a flat tablespoon of salt, then taste the sauce as the sauce cooks. If the sauce doesn't taste over-salty later on, or lacks taste, mix in a little more to bring it out more.

To be honest, salt is one of the trickiest cooking things to call, as until you've tried a few dishes that don't have enough salt, and a few more (or at least one) with too much, it's a bit of a mystery understanding what difference salt makes and what constitutes the right amount (at least this is what I've found myself).

My Italian wife for example just can't believe that people like me don't immediately know how much salt is required, as many recipes put it, 'to taste'. But then I am British, so cooking's not necessarily in my blood :-)

Sorry to ramble on, hope that helps!

Matt.

PS: If you're interested in finding out when new recipes hit the site (and getting a free recipe ebook), sign up for my Pastastic newsletter if you like. It's here.

PPS: Do let me know if hubby likes the sauce!