By my not-so-subtle italics, I’m sure you can guess that my plan did not come to fruition, but fear not! The result wasn’t all bad…
Let’s start from the beginning of my bolognese blunder.
I grew up enjoying my spaghetti with the meaty sauce and figured it was high time I make my own from scratch.
I had lean ground beef, an onion, carrots and diced tomatoes on hand, so why not give it a go?
I sat down to browse the internet for inspiration which irritated the heck out of Sadie. Over a game of tug-of-war with Mad Dog, I stumbled upon Ellie Krieger’s recipe for bolognese sauce on the Food Network’s website.
It seemed easy enough, so I began chopping an onion, crying with every stroke of the knife. Once I had my chopped veggies sizzling away, I added ground beef, chicken broth and spices, as instructed.
This seems a little watery.
I kept waiting for the sauce to thicken, as the recipe said it would.
I’m wating…
I waited not-so-patiently (patience is something I should really work on), and the sauce never thickened. After reading reviews of the recipe, it seemed like a common problem among testers.
Note to self: Read reviews on recipe websites.
Note to readers: Did you know bolognese is also a breed of dog? Just learned that little nugget this evening!
I decided to abandon my bolognese sauce and revamp the recipe.
I drained off all of the liquid and added about a cup of marinara sauce to the ground beef mixture.
I then cooked up a box of whole wheat penne pasta. Once the pasta was cooked al dente, I drained off the water and poured the penne into the bottom of a 13×8 glass baking dish.
I topped the pasta with the meaty sauce and a package of shredded cheddar cheese before baking it in the oven at 350 until the cheese melted and the pasta set.
The end result was actually pretty darn delicious! 
Sometimes a recipe blunder can be turned around into something delicious.
Noted.
Now I’m off to bake some Christmas cookies. It’s that time of year! 😀
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My first attempt at bolognese sauce was with Pioneer Woman’s recipe. It was pretty time consuming but so delicious! I highly recommend it 🙂 Glad yours turned out okay after all!
hahaha you had me fooled! I’m so glad your blunder turned out to be a success! I appreciate your honesty because I feel like I have kitchen blunders ALL THE TIME.
Take tonight, for instance. I was making spicy sausage balls for a holiday party, and I set my oven timer and sat down to read a book. Since I am a nerd, I really get into books…and I forgot ALL about the sausage balls. My roommate takes one look at me and says, “Um, Amy, did you mean to leave in your sausage balls ten minutes after the timer went off?” And my brain says,”…WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!”
What I expected to be golden balls of deliciousness were now gray, cratery masses that resembled the surface of the moon. I touched one–and it still sprang back at me. I cracked one open, took a bite…and they were FINE on the inside! As I munched, I decided I kinda liked the crunchy exterior.
I totally relate to blunders-turned-right sort of thing. 🙂 Yay for us!
Food Network’s web staff is notorious for posting the recipes wrong on the website. I wonder if they forgot an ingredient. At least you recovered nicely!!
Oh, bolognese. I’d recommend an America’s Test Kitchen recipe the first time you try making something, since the results are usually great. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve made a so-so recipe I’ve found on foodnetwork.com, then have made a much improved version via ATK. I’d highly recommend any of their books as Christmas presents, too… you would love The Best Light Recipe. 🙂
Looks delicious as always!
I learned the same lesson – the hard way, as well. My meal (turkey-spinach meatloaf) couldn’t be saved, though. Your dinner sounds tasty!
haha when in doubt…just wing it!
I’ve learned the hard way, too!
hey, you said it the other day…sometimes the best tasting stuff isn’t always the prettiest! on the other hand, this actually looks heavenly to me 🙂
Well, it looks pretty tasty to me!!!!! Glad it turned out so well. We normally just brown some ground beef, add a prego marinara, some actual diced tomatoes and sauteed veggies and call it bolognese. =D
apparently, if you chew gum while cutting up onions, your eyes won’t tear! I’ve never tried it because 1) i don’t really care for gum 2) i always forget, but maybe it’ll work for you! i really should remember though…it’s so annoying when i have waterproof mascara! grr.
i meant when i don’t have waterproof mascara. oops 🙂
My first stab at bolognese was a Martha Stewart recipe that took so long I vowed never to make it again….until I saw Giada’s “simple bolognese” recipe. So easy and delicious.
Sometimes kitchen messes become the best successes! 🙂
That looks yummy! Sometimes recipes gone wrong or adapted are the BEST!
If you wear sunglasses while cutting onions you won’t tear up! Works like a charm for me every time 🙂
It still looks fab!
Glad it turned out well in the end. My dinner couldn’t be salvaged like yours. I made chicken francese and the sauce was so bad it ruined the entire dish. I’m thinking it was the chicken stock I used. There is one brand that even my mother will never buy, but neither one of us can remember what that brand is. Ironically the recipe was from food network. Enjoy your baking!
That sauce looks great! I’m glad that you recovered your cooking mishap into something great! Tuesday night I had a cooking mishap and sadly, I couldn’t figure out how to fix it. It’s okay though. You live and you learn! 🙂
Bolognese is a simple meal, but not so simple for making. I’ve made good ones, and pretty bad ones, I guess it depends on the day 😀
Looks yummy!
awesome tip!!! thanks! 🙂
I have tried so many recipes that don’t work — usually I forget an ingredient but sometimes they just don’t turn out. But at least you made this a success! and it looks great too.
I made christmas cookies last night too — oreo balls and peppermint bark (holy yum).
A huge habit of mine is reading reviews on any sort of recipe. I usually end up reading so many I forget to cook! 😉
http://www.tastespotting.com/ is an amazing site for finding recipes. Anytime I’m looking for something I find the best of the best there. It’s great to be able to compare lots of different recipes on the same site. Check it out. Also, if you have any recipes you’d like to contribute, you can submit your own and they just might be featured. It’s a community site but has a pretty high bar for only allowing the truly good stuff on there. A great resource to say the least.