Spaghetti Bolognese

Good evening, everyone! It's getting colder and colder outside, so much that you don't even want to stick your nose out the door. I'm sitting on the couch under a blanket, sipping hot tea. The kids have been asleep for ages, the candles are burning, the garlands are sparkling. Wonderful (almost) laziness! Almost, because I grabbed my laptop to share a few more ideas from my kitchen with you.

First, let me start with some overdue business.

There are days in every mom's life when she just doesn't feel like doing anything. Cooking included. Of course, when I have ideas, I love to cook, but sometimes the ideas are just missing, and then I wander around the kitchen wondering what to make. It's even worse when the fridge is empty because my husband still has to bring the groceries, and the kids are yelling that they want to eat.

A few days ago that's exactly what happened to me, and I decided to make a "sure thing" that I almost always have the ingredients for. No inventing, no weird vegetables whose names the girls can't even pronounce, just the pasta they adore.

Here is my version of the sauce we all know.

Spaghetti Bolognese

Ingredients:

• half an onion
• about 200 g ground meat
• 1 garlic clove (or less)
• 1 carrot
• 1 small can of tomatoes
• olive oil
• salt
• pepper
• oregano
• basil
• a pinch of ground caraway
• about 2 tbsp heavy cream
• spaghetti
• fresh parsley
• Parmesan or other grated cheese

I peeled the onion and cut it into tiny cubes. When I'm cooking for the kids, I cut it as small as I possibly can, because if they sense the onion, they won't eat it. I cut the carrot into very thin slices. Adding the carrot means I don't have to add sugar to the tomato sauce. I blend the tomatoes or mash them with a fork.

I gently heat the olive oil in a pan, add the onion with the pressed garlic and sauté lightly, making sure the garlic doesn't burn. I add the ground meat and fry it for a moment, then add the carrot. After a while I pour in the tomatoes, season with the spices listed in the ingredients and simmer until the meat and carrot are cooked through.

While the sauce is cooking, I cook the pasta.

When the meat and carrot are soft, I pour in the cream, stir thoroughly and adjust the seasoning if needed. I add chopped parsley (you can skip it) and stir.

I put the pasta on plates, pour the sauce over it and sprinkle with grated cheese and parsley.

Enjoy!