Bolognese, Jerk Asparagus & Cheesy Garlic Bread

Good evening, everyone!

Tonight was a meal with lots of work involved, and I started it right after I got off work at 5pm! 

I made bolognese with whole grain fettuccine, jerk asparagus, and cheesy garlic bread.

Bolognese:

The bolognese is a Rachael Ray recipe from her book Look + Cook, given to me by my sister-in-law and brother-in-law.  :)  Luckily, the recipe is on the internet as well (http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/food/recipes/bolognese-pappardelle/).

First of all, I did not use ground pork or sirloin.  I used a pound of ground chicken and a pound of ground turkey.  I made this before with the same proteins, and the result was amazing! 

I did use the pancetta, and it is my one vice (other than pepperoni) that is pork-related.  I rarely eat pork, and when I do, it is in the form of pepperoni.  Pancetta is only consumed when I make this dish. 

The onion and celery were both left out, but I added an additional carrot for good measure.  I used 5 cloves of garlic, fine sea salt, and LOTS of freshly ground black pepper.  I grated my nutmeg fresh, used two dry bay leaves, dried thyme, dried marjoram, and almost doubled the amount of red pepper flakes.  Of course, with the red pepper flakes, use them to your taste.  The tomato paste and red wine stayed the same.  Instead of beef stock, I used some leftover turkey stock and the remainder in chicken stock (still 3 cups total). 

I could not find pappardelle noodles, so I used fettuccine.  For the milk, I used whole milk and some shredded parmesan cheese.  I did not do the flat-leaf parsley because it is a fresh herb I feel is unnecessary. 

Jerk Asparagus

The recipe for the jerk asparagus came from the same book as the previous two nights' recipes:  Appetite for Reduction by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. 

I used a cast iron skillet to cook this dish.  It calls for sauteing garlic and fresh ginger in some olive oil, as well as some red pepper flakes, dried thyme, salt, allspice, freshly-grated nutmeg and cinnamon.  All of this is used to coat the asparagus.  It is a good combination. 

Cheesy Garlic Bread

Because the other two dishes were homemade, I used some boxed garlic cheese bread.  [insert collective gasp here].  To make it better, I added some freshly ground black pepper and some crushed red pepper flakes.  It was good.  I like my bread to be well done, so I put the bread in for the maximum time given in the directions, then I put the broiler on high to brown the top quickly. 

The Finished Plate: