REAL Food and Farming

A Sunday lunch turns Italian

Today was the farmer’s market day in Grassington and so I made the trip to find something local for Sunday lunch. In all honesty, my intention was to buy something a little different like venison but the stall selling such products was not there. Instead I bought some Bolton Abbey mince from Steven Crabtree along with some of his beef burgers (a firm favourite with my kids). Steven farms on the Bolton Abbey estate and has a fine reputation, not only amongst a growing following of loyal retail customers, but also some of the areas most respected restaurants.

A friend of mine, Stewart the cameraman, had brought me a bottle of Italian red wine from Apulia, close to where he has an apartment in Cisternino and so I decided to use the local mince to make a spaghetti bolognese.

For what it’s worth, here’s the recipe.

Bolton Abbey Spaghetti Bolognese

• a good slug of olive oil
• 3-4 cloves of garlic
• 1 red chili
• 2 teaspoons of dried oregano or Italian herbs
• 4 400g tins of plum tomatoes
• Handful of fresh basil
• 500g spaghetti
• 500g Bolton Abbey minced beef
• Grated parmesan

Heat the olive oil in a heavy bottomed pan, pierce the skin of the red chili and fry gently in the olive oil. Slic e the garlic thinly and add to the olive oil, keeping everything moving to prevent it from burning. After a few minutes add oregano and plum tomatoes and slowly bring to a boil stiring gently to prevent the tomatoes from breaking. Simmer gently for around 40 minutes.

In the meantime heat some oive oil in a frying pan until it’s very hot and add the mince, fry until brown, seasoning to taste. At this point I like to add a little red wine to the meat and allow the liquid to evapourate.

Put on a large pan of water and bring it to the boil adding plenty of salt and a little olive oil. Add the spaghetti and cook according to the instructions.

When the tomato sauce is ready, crush the plum tomatoes with the back of a spoon, add some torn basil leaves and season well with sea salt and black pepper, add a slug of olive oil.

Add some of the sauce to the mince, drain the spaghetti and serve with the sauce and some grated parmesan. I like to save some of the tomato sauce to have later in the week with pasta or as the base for another dish.