Josephine Baker's Spaghetti Bolognese

Jun 23
2 min read

We are kicking off summer in style with the legendary Josephine Baker.

Josephine Baker was a trailblazing nightclub performer, singer film actress, activist and a spy for the French Resistance. She adopted 12 children and called them "The Rainbow Tribe". Baker spent most of her life in France and was inducted into the Panthéon in Paris. Click HERE to read the NY Times obituary on her remarkable life.

The Recipe

Josephine stated that this was a favorite recipe and I managed to find it all listed out on the blog Womanifesting.

Ingredients

8 ounces lean ground pork
8 ounces lean ground beef
8 ounces lean ground veal
4 tablespoons tomato paste
1/4 cup onion, minced (1 oz minced)
1/4 cup celery, minced (1 oz minced)
1/4 cup shallot (1 oz minced)
1/4 cup carrot, minced ( 1 oz minced)
1 teaspoons garlic, smashed
2 cups beef stock
1 cup red wine
1 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, (1/2 oz )
1/8 teaspoons nutmeg
1/8 teaspoons red chili flakes
16 ounces dry spaghetti
1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, minced (1 oz )
1 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper, to taste

Directions

Cook the pasta according to package directions.

In heavily salted water

Drain and keep warm.

Meanwhile in stockpot

Sweat the minced onion, celery, shallot, carrot and garlic in oil until translucent.

Add ground beef, pork and veal

And cook for about 2 minutes, stirring to break apart the meat for desired consistency.

Add the tomato paste and stir for 1 minute. Don’t burn

Add red wine and beef stock

And let simmer for 15 minutes.

Add salt, pepper, red chili flakes and nutmeg.

Toss pasta with the bolognese sauce and add parsley.

Special Guest

Dominique Breckinridge is an art/film creative and fashion designer, of Dominique Revue and Dominique Private Collection. Her trademark, professionally and personally, radiates from her adoration of classic cinema, influencing my continuous homage to Old Hollywood, rooted in her home brew adage, "Classic entertainment in a modern world done in a vintage manner."

You can see all of her work from garments to essays (including her ongoing NOTABLE CLASSIC BLACK ENTERTAINERS series)—and her homage to classic Hollywood—at www.dominiquerevue.weebly.com or by viewing my Dominique Revue YouTube Channel and my Dominique Revue Productions YouTube Channel.

Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGVWJa5Y110

Final Result

Unfortunately due to a big problem at my local grocery store, I wasn't able to get the groceries and get this recipe done in time for the show. That said, I had a great time talking about Josephine Baker with Dominique and we will definitely do more episodes in the future! Josephine's life was epic and there are endless things to talk about!

There are plenty of Josephine Baker films that you can find on Turner Classic Movies or DVD.