Spaghetti with Minced Meat and Vegetable Sauce

Put the flour together with the salt in a bowl, make a hollow in the middle and beat the eggs into it. Now add a tiny sip of water and mix in a circular motion with a fork.

I really add the water here in sips, how much depends on the size of the egg, so I don't give any information about the amount here. Now start kneading with your hands, possibly still adding a sip of water. Knead the dough vigorously.

When the dough no longer sticks to your fingers and the bowl, take it out of the bowl and continue to knead vigorously with both hands on the worktop. The dough should be nice and smooth and silky and if you make a dent in it with your finger, it should come back very slowly. Let the dough rest at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.

Now roll out the dough thinly with the pasta machine and cut the spaghetti with the spaghetti attachment. Now cook the spaghetti in sufficiently salted water until al dente.

I haven't used oil in pasta dough for a while. I have found that the dough is much smoother without oil, it is much easier to work with and I have also found that if the pasta does not contain oil, it absorbs the sauce much better.

Heat some olive oil in a saucepan and fry the minced meat until it is crumbly. Make sure that it is not only well cooked, but also develops a few toasted aromas. Then season with salt and pepper.

Now add the shallot and garlic and mix in. Now add the diced carrots and roast a little while stirring. Then add the leek cubes and roast a little while stirring. Then deglaze with the white wine and let it reduce almost completely.

Now pour the beef stock, just enough so that everything is just covered. Season with Espelette pepper and add the sprig of thyme. Now turn the heat to the lowest level and simmer gently for at least 2 hours - the longer, the better the taste. Possibly pour in some beef stock from time to time.

Just before serving, turn up the heat again, add the cream and let it reduce for a few minutes until the desired consistency is reached. I still add a ladle of pasta water to the sauce, so the pasta absorbs the sauce even better.

Drain the pasta, collect some pasta water and add to the sauce. Arrange the spaghetti on a pasta plate, pour the sauce over it and grate fresh Parmesan cheese over it.