Pasta with Bolognese Sauce – Part Two – In a Hurry

This week has been interesting to say the least. Tonight I’m a bit unmotivated and having a problem figuring out what I want to write about. I wrote three paragraphs about the restaurant and then decided it was boring so I tossed that out the door.

I find that many of my readers enjoy hearing about the restaurant and what goes on there so I’ve been trying to include more stories about it. I also have some readers who have told me they would like to know more about how I’ve managed to lose 45 pounds in the last seven months even though I cook some pretty tasty food and work in a restaurant that has been awarded the title of “Best Baked Goods”!

Well let’s get to the point tonight and touch on the food thing since I’m most bothered by it right now and then I will go back and plop myself on the couch and watch the Olympics.

I have an addiction to food… Food is to me what alcohol is to an alcoholic. The only problem is I can’t quit cold turkey, I work at a restaurant, I’m Italian, I love food and my wife is a chef. Doh!

From January this year to the beginning of the Olympics last week, I’ve exercised 30 to 45 minutes of hard cardio, six days per week, every week. Yes every week! During the same period of time, I’ve eaten anything I wanted, but have limited my general overall calorie consumption to 1,300 to 1,800 calories each day.

In the first four months I didn’t break that routine, but maybe twice. In the past four months I broke the routine on average once per week. In the first four months I lost on average one to two pounds per week. In the last four months I’ve had periods of time where I don’t lose any weight for a month.

Everyone now tells me I shouldn’t lose anymore weight and I don’t intend to lose much more, but will start adding weights to build more muscle, which in turn will burn more calories, into my routine.

I’m a very all-or-nothing person, so either I’m working out, eating well and being healthy or I’m the exact opposite. I’ve worked out two out of the last ten days! haha, so you can imagine what’s going on with my eating habits.

So that’s a bit about my relationship with food. I have nothing profound to say or any great advice that, if you have a food addiction like me, you haven’t heard before. Exercise is my key and I find that if I’m doing it most of the week everything will work out.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming. On Tuesday we had our first catering due at 7:00 in the morning and the last one a drop off at 6:00pm. We also had a friend coming over for dinner and I wanted to make a very modified version of Bolognese I ran across a few days ago. It interested me because it was supposed to be a “Quick Ragu” and I wasn’t going to have much time. I know, the next post for Bolognese was supposed to be the skirt steak version… it is coming I promise. It will be worth the wait.

I made it home early because my beautiful and wonderful wife volunteered to take the dinner catering since I was cooking the dinner, including homemade strawberry gelato, which I will share the recipe for in a few days.

The night was perfection and the dinner and dessert represented exactly what food should be all about. The three of us made dinner together, shared stories, drank wine and laughed. We coaxed the boys out of their lairs to eat dinner and we all enjoyed the results. We then retired to our very large and comfy couch and for the next three hours enjoyed great conversation and some strawberry gelato!

Pasta with Rapid Bolognese Sauce – (serves four)

Ingredients

• 5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 medium-sized carrots, small dice
• 2 medium-sized celery hearts, small dice
• 1 large onion, small dice
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 pound ground pork
• 1/2 pound mortadella, chopped fine (this is the fun part, first time I’ve used this ingredient)
• 8 to 12 ounces tomato sauce (up to your preference)
• 3 tablespoons fresh Italian parsley
• Freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 pound rigatoni or mostaccioli pasta

Fill a 6 quart pan 3/4 full of water and bring to boil. This is your pasta boiling water.

Heat oil and butter over medium heat in dutch oven or heavy bottomed pan until hot. Add onion, carrots and celery. Cook until tender and onion is translucent, about nine minutes. Add garlic and cook for one minute.

Stir in pork, tomato paste and mortadella then cook, stirring periodically, until the pinkness is eliminated, about 10 minutes. Stir in tomato sauce and 1 tablespoon of water. Reduce heat to low and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Salt and pepper to taste and then stir in parsley.

When you are 10 minutes away from the sauce being done, generously salt the boiling water. Add the pasta and cook until tender, per the package instructions. Toss the pasta with the sauce and serve, topped with Parmesan cheese.

Please share your great memories of food, friends and family. I always need to remember that we don’t just eat to survive, or to binge, or to satisfy some emotional void, but to enjoy the act of preparing and sharing!