Cooking Pork Bolognese Pasta

You know how I love pasta, right? I have shared with you several pasta recipes, in fact. While most of my pasta recipes use fresh cherry tomatoes as base, I still enjoy a rich juicy pasta sauce from canned tomatoes. It's what I always use in making pork bolognese at home.

Read on to get my low calorie recipe in cooking pork bolognese.

Pork bolognese is an Italian dish that is usually cooked with bacon and pancetta. Since everything with bacon is good; you can imagine how tasty bolognese is! However to avoid the fats, we'll be using lean ground pork (or beef) in this recipe. I promise you that it'll also be good, tasty, yummy and appetizing! We'll add a bit of sweet chili sauce in our mix to make it more delightful.


Ready? Here we go!

Ingredients in cooking pork bolognese:
- olive oil

- garlic, crushed and chopped
- onions, chopped
- carrots, diced (optional)
- champignon mushrooms, cut thinly

- dried paprika, cut in halves (optional but preferred)
- raisins

- ground pork, lean
- pork liver, minced
- tomato sauce

I'm using Hunt's tomato sauce. Aside from liking what I read from its label, this brand also has rich flavors.

- pepper
- fish sauce
- sweet chili sauce
- sweet pickle relish
- grated cheese (optional)

Steps in cooking pork bolognese.
1. Cook the pasta. Drain and set aside.

2. Put oil in a very hot pan.
3. Saute' a portion of the garlic.
4. When the garlic turns golden, put in the ground pork.
5. Stir and mix well until the pork is cooked.
6. Set the pork aside in a dry container.
7. Season the pork with a bit of fish sauce and pepper while hot.
8. Put olive oil in the same pan.
9. Saute' the rest of the garlic.
10. When the garlic turns golden, mix in the onions. Stir well.
11. When the onions are soft, mix in the carrots. Stir well.
12. Add in the mushrooms. Stir well.
13. Add in the paprika. Stir well.
14. Add in the pork liver. Stir well.
15. When the liver is cooked, add in the seasoned pork.

16. Lower the heat and let it simmer for about 5 minutes.
17. Add in the tomato sauce and the raisins.

18. Let it simmer for another 5 minutes, still under low heat.
19. Season the sauce with fish sauce, sweet chili sauce and pepper.
20. When the flavor is right according to your preference, add in the seasoned pasta.
21. Garnish with grated cheese come serving time.

In summary: (Updated Apr 5, 2013)

Pork Bolognese

5/5 stars

Prep time: 5-10 minutes
Cook time: 10-20 minutes (sauce) 20 minutes (pasta noodles)
Total time: 30-50 minutes

Ingredients

• Olive oil
• Garlic
• Onions
• Carrots (optional)
• Mushrooms, canned or fresh
• Paprika
• Raisins
• Black pepper powder
• Paprika powder
• Fish sauce
• Sweet chili sauce
• Sweet pickle relish
• Grated cheese (optional)
• Pasta noodles

Cooking Directions

1. Cook the pasta as instructed above.
2. Saute' the garlic.
3. Add the pork. Mix well.
4. Season the pork with fish sauce and pepper.
5. Add the pork liver. Mix well.
6. Add the onions.
7. Add the carrots now, if you have them.
8. Add a little water. Let it simmer under low heat.
9. Add the tomato sauce and mushrooms.
10. Let the dish simmer for 5-7 minutes under low heat.
11. Add the raisins.
12. Season the dish with fish sauce, pepper, sweet chili sauce and pickle relish.
13. Let the dish simmer for 2 minutes.
14. Adjust the taste, according to your preference.
15. Add the flavored pasta.
16. Serve while hot.

In case there are left-overs, don't worry. This dish tastes better after refrigerating.

Here's another pasta recipe - with fresh basil, this time.

Remember me when you cook!