Bolognese Sauce with an Indian twist

As mentioned in my earlier post about my love for my mini food processor, below is the recipe I learned from Jamie Oliver on how to make Bolognese sauce. What is Bolognese sauce you ask? Meat and veggies ground together, simmered and then added to pasta. I prefer penne noodles as they are easy for Baby L to finger feed. I added my own Indian twist to it to accommodate my family's preference.

This is a recipe for a large batch as I froze some for later. You can also make this dish vegetarian by replacing the sausage meat with beans or lentils.

Ingredients:

• 4 carrots

• 4 celery sticks

• 1 bunch of green onions

• 1 piece of ginger

• 5 garlic cloves

• 1 can of diced tomatoes or 4 to 5 small tomatoes on the vine

• 4 green chillies

• 1 package of Italian sausage (hot or mild, your choice) (my package contained 6) or, if making vegetarian, 1 can of kidney beans or lentils of your choice

• 1 can of diced tomatoes or 4 small tomatoes on the vine

• 1 tbs turmeric

• 1 tsp cumin seeds

• 1 tsp fennel seeds

• Black pepper

• Salt

Directions:

1. Heat cumin seeds with a bit of oil in the saucepan

2. Remove the casing from the sausages - or ask your butcher to give you sausages without the casing

3. Grind up the sausages in your processor and to the saucepan

4. Grind up ginger, garlic and chillies and saute with the sausage mix. Add fennel seeds.

5. Peel carrots and pulse with the celery and onions

6. Once the sausages are cooked, add the veggies and saute

7. Grind up the tomatoes if using fresh and add to sausage mix. If using canned diced tomatoes, add it as is.

8. Add the turmeric, and any additional spices you enjoy. I usually don't add salt as most sausages contain a ton of sodium.

9. Simmer on low for at least 30 minutes

10. Toss pasta and top with cheese. You may bake in oven to melt the cheese as well for a few minutes.

Removal of casing from sausage