Hi everyone, today I am going to show you how to make a classic pasta dish, pasta with tomato and meat sauce.
The meat sauce is made of pork or beef or the combination of both.
Today I am using only beef. First off, let's go over the ingredients.
Here are some important notes for some of my ingredients.
To begin with, the Italian Parmesan Cheese. If you have access to fresh ones, that's awesome. It tastes way better than those parmesan cheese powder.
In a pasta dish, you'd better use canned tomato, because it has a tangier and richer flavor than fresh ones.
Next, tomato paste. Tomato paste is made by reducing tomato moisture to make a thick and rich concentrate, and it's different from tomato sauce. Normally it comes with a toothpaste like package.
Lastly, pasta. Today I am using linguine, a long and narrow ribbon like pasta. Actually another wider pasta, fettuccine is better in this dish.
To pick up the right pasta, those look rough rather than smooth are better, because they can absorb more sauce.
Now, let's do some prep.
First, slice bacon lengthwise into strips, and then cut into small pieces.
Peel and dice onion.
Dice the celery sticks.
Same goes for carrots.
Remove the seeds from chili, and then dice into small pieces.
Lastly, dice mushrooms as well.
As for basil, I have already washed and drained it. Remove those large leaves, and then save those small and young leaves for garnish later.
Roll the basil leaves and then cut into thin strips. Chop them up.
Now let's start cooking.
Add about 3 to 4 tbs. of olive oil in a pan, and add in bacon.
Cook them over medium heat for 1 to 2 minutes until it's browned and oily.
Add in onion.
Press a clove of garlic in.
Cook for a minute or two until the onion becomes translucent, add in minced beef.
Stir fry minced beef until they get some color, and then add in all the vegetables, carrots, celery sticks, mushroom, basil leaves and diced chili.
Cook for 1 to 2 minutes until fragrant.
Pour in some red wine. Allow the alcohol to evaporate.
Open up the canned tomato, and get it in the pan.
Pour 150ml of water or beef stock in the pan. Here I am using the water to remove those remaining tomatoes in the can.
Press down and mash canned tomatoes with spatula, and then add in tomato paste.
Sprinkle some salt, not too much, because we have parmesan cheese later.
Add in a piece of bay leaf.
Turn down the heat to low, cover with lid, and braise for about an hour.
Wait until the meat sauce is almost ready, and then cook your pasta.
Bring a pot of water to a boil, and add in a pinch of salt. And then add in linguine.
Cook over high heat, give it a stir occasionally so that they won't stick at the bottom of your pan.
There is an instruction on the back of your pasta package to show you how much time is needed to cook pasta. My linguine needs 10 minutes.
While pasta is cooking, take a look at the meat sauce. Remove the bay leaf now.
Use a grater to grate some parmesan cheese in the sauce.
Give it a taste and adjust if needed. Add in some freshly ground pepper.
Mix well. Now it's almost done.
So the pasta have been cooking for about 9 and half minutes, 30 seconds away from fully cooked. Transfer them from the pot into the sauce now.
At this point, adding pasta into the sauce will help to reduce the mixture. If you feel like the sauce is too thick, you can pour in some pasta water in it.
When the sauce is reduced to a desired consistency, it's ready to serve. Before that, sprinkle some young basil leaves.
And some pepper.
And some parmesan cheese as well. Now it's done.
This pasta with tomato and meat sauce is a classic and popular dish.
There are a lot of ingredients in the meat sauce apart from meet and tomato, which gives the dish a rich combination of flavors.
And this meat sauce is also good to share. You can make a batch and then divide into several servings and store them in the freezer. Next time you want to serve, just cook some pasta and you are done.
I hope you like this classic flavor, linguine with tomato and meat sauce, and thanks for watching.