This recipe I found online sounded really interesting and delicious, so I gave it my own twist into the recipe again, and went right in! When I went to by Harissa, I found “Mild” and “Spicy” kinds. I heard that the Harissa can be quite spicy, so I bought mild Harissa. If you have powder Harissa, you can add a bit of water and/or oil (1 part powder, 1 part water, 1 part oil) and make your own Harissa paste. This Pasta with Harissa Bolognese will be cooked in a 15 inch x 10 inch pan.
INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 pound ground pork
170 grams tomato paste
1/4 cup harissa paste (adjust accordingly to your preferred spiciness)
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1/3 cup/80 milliliters olive oil
1 cup Parmesan, finely grated (about 60 grams)
1 cup Pecorino Romano, finely grated (about 60 grams)
Salt and black pepper
1 large carrot, peeled, halved lengthwise and sliced
1 medium to large onion, peeled and roughly chopped
2 large plum tomatoes, roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
4 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 package dried flat pasta, such as lasagna (12 to 16 oz)
1/4 packed cup roughly chopped parsley, plus extra for garnish
Yes, lots of ingredients… but the end result is all worth it! Heat the oven to 475 degrees, and add the first 7 ingredients to a large bowl, mix. If you are using the spicy kind of Harissa, you might want to use less than 1/4 cup to maybe 2 tablespoons or so, as it might get too spicy. If you are not familiar with Harissa, it is a Tunisian hot chili pepper paste.
Add 3 tablespoons olive oil, 2/3rds Parmesan and 2/3rds Pecorino Romano, 1 3/4 teaspoons salt and plenty of pepper. With the cheese, you don’t have to be exact, just put in about 2/3rds of a cup each.
Mix roughly. As we are going to be adding more ingredients in here, you don’t have to be extremely thorough (yet).
Put the carrot in a food processor and blitz until finely chopped. You can do the same for onion, tomatoes and garlic, unless you want them to be bigger pieces. All up to you. I only blitzed carrots, as the other ingredients were already nicely chopped by hand.
Add them to the first bowl to combine. This is when you want to mix them thoroughly.
Transfer them to a 15 inch x 10 inch roasting pan. It is quite full… Put it into the oven and bake until browned on top and sizzling, about 25 minutes.
Here is 25 minutes later! Reduce heat to 375 degrees. And at this point, you can just let it sit, covered, for a while, if you are not ready to eat just yet. Do what you have to do for an hour or two… the flavors continue to meld and get better. Or, if you are ready, continue on!
Break the meat apart thoroughly, stirring it into the liquid that has been produced. Pour the chicken stock and cream on top and mix.
Now, up to this point, it hasn’t been that difficult, right? It is looking pretty good! But yes, one of the main ingredients is missing…pasta!
Now, this is the challenging part… Putting 16 oz of lasagna pasta in here! It took some time and lots of maneuvering around… After just half the pasta package, I thought I can’t fit anymore in there, but I somehow managed to do so! You want to make sure and get some liquid/meat/veggies in between the pasta layers, ensure each pasta is coated. You won’t be able to submerge it all, and that is ok!
Put the pan back in the oven at 375, and after 10 minutes, take it out and stir the pasta. What you want is to exchange the top layer and bottom layer as much as you can, so that the pasta on top will also get cooked. Do this again after another 10 minutes in the oven, and put it back for the last 10 minutes, total of 30 minutes. If you decided to use less pasta (half the amount), you could do total of 25 minutes.
Here is after 30 minutes! All my pasta got cooked pretty nicely, but not done yet. Stir in parsley, sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan and Pecorino Romano and drizzle with the remaining oil. Mix and put it back in the oven.
Bake until the top is crisp in parts and beginning to brown, about 8 minutes. Look at my beautiful Pasta with Harissa Bolognese, coming to life!
Sprinkle over some additional parsley and let cool for 10 minutes, so the excess liquid soaks in, before serving. The longer you can let it sit, the better!
And the end result, Pasta with Harissa Bolognese was amazing!!! Super delicious! It felt like eating lasagna a bit, with so many lasagna pasta, making layers of pasta and the rest. It was really nice! The only thing was that we didn’t feel much of any heat. I would’ve liked to have a little kick to it. I will get the real-deal, spic kind of Harissa next time, and either use less amount of it, or mix the mid and spicy one together. But other than that, delightful!
It is good to try and cook different kinds of dishes, especially now that we are not going out much, and I do have more time and home… My culinary adventure continues! It is going to take all of us being safe to get rid of this virus, so let’s continue to stay safe!