Can you guess what is it?
"I will give you a kiss if you can guess the secret ingredient in this pasta sauce." I said this while I was serving my husband and son these pasta. I was a little confident that they couldn't give the right answer and ended my sentence with a cheeky pouty lip.
"My special red wine" said my husband instantly. He knew that I had pinched his favorite red wine to cook this pasta.
"Nope!"
"Celery." said my son with a sad and flat tone plus a sulking face. He wasn't excited when I gave his plate of pasta. "I saw you chopping some celery and I knew that you have been cooking with it."
"Nope!"
Eventually, my enthusiastic husband guessed the right answer and I leaned forward and gave his a kiss... Muah!
Do you know what is it? The answer will be revealed as you see how I cooked this pasta...
Secret ingredient bolognese sauce made from the recipe in the book, ABC Delicious by Valli Little
This sauce is made of these beautiful vegetable.
Although my son whinged about the celery, he actually finished all the pasta that I gave him.
Is one of these vegetable the secret ingredient? Nope!
Instead of using any cooking oil, I cooked the pancetta first until its fat is released.
Then, I added the rosemary leaves.
... plus the vegetable and cooked the vegetable until softened.
Next, I added the beef mince and cooked the beef until nicely browned.
Hint: The lean kind of beef mince has higher water content. To brown this kind of mince beautifully, I have to cook the beef until the excessive water content is evaporated off and afterwards the mince will browned nicely.
Add tomato paste.
... and this red wine.
This is my husband's "special" red wine... LOL!
After cooking the sauce for about 5 mins, I added these ingredients.
And I cooked the sauce further.
Is any of these ingredients mentioned above the secret ingredient?Nope! :pHere's the secret ingredient!
It is CHOCOLATE!!!
Remove the thickened sauce from the heat and stir in the chocolate.
When the sauce is ready, I cooked the pasta according to its packet instructions.
For my husband, I have added finely chopped chili into into his pasta sauce and served his pasta with basil leaves
Yum!
My husband said that this pasta is extra yummy because of his "special" red wine, not because of the chocolate.
Ha ha!
This recipe originates from the book, ABC delicious, Simple by Valli Little.
Like the ABC delicious, Sizzle and ABC delicious, Bake books that I have recently reviewed at here, here, here, here and here, this book is also one of the latest bite-sized series that is curated from the successful cookbook collection by the best selling Australian author Valli Little and the team behind Australia's ABC delicious magazine.Like the two books, there is a total of 60 recipes in this book and they are all very simple and straightforward to cook. Some are the classic food like this pasta bolognese sauce, coq au vin and even one serve pizza. Most beautifully and effectively, these recipes are written to cook in the most simplest way and to serve you and me in the most stylish manner.
This is the book, ABC delicious, Simple by Valli Little.
Do you like this recipe and this book?
I'm sorry that I have agreed to the publisher that I can't publish this recipe in this book review but you can win one copy of the book here at my blog! If you miss out the chance of winning this book, you can check out this book in most book shops at a retail price of AUD$19.99.
This giveaway is open to ALL international readers and the submission ends on 5 July 2015. Good luck!