Classic Spaghetti Bolognese

Spaghetti Bolognaise

According to UKTV Food's 'Market Kitchen', Spaghetti Bolognese is the UK's favourite dish to cook at home. I can see why; it's pretty simple to make and can feed an army with relatively inexpensive ingredients. Can you really go wrong with a Spag Bol? I suppose it depends on your taste-buds. It may in essence be a relatively quick meal to create, but 'quick' does not always do the bolognese justice.

I take up to 90-minutes to make mine. I have been known to caramelise my onions in butter and at the end of cooking I will add cream or mascarpone. Not only does this make the meal very fattening, but it also makes it very heavy. Indulgence is one thing, but go too far and this dish could leave your dinner-party guests curling up next to the cat for a little snooze.

A bit of history: The dish originated in Bologna, Italy, and was generally made with green tagliatelle, as opposed to the the classic spaghetti we are all used to. It was a modest dish of pasta with ragu and it didn't contain as much tomato as we use today. My preference is to use a fresh pasta, but any good dried pasta works well too. The Italians often add a number of other ingredients, as I do, but for my Classic Spag Bol I wanted to keep the fat content down and return to the original meat and tomato flavours that have made this dish so popular. 

Other authentic ingredients might include pancetta, celery, chopped sausage or liver, and red wine. I've tried it with Chorizo, but found it a little overpowering.

Method: Chop up some carrots into 3-4mm thick discs and boil. Then set aside.

Take 1x large white onion, 1x large red onion, 4x cloves of garlic; chop them up and add them to a pan containing 2x tablespoons of heated olive oil. Brown the mixture and then turn the heat right down and cook for about 10-minutes until it's all soft. Remove from the pan and wipe the pan down. Add another tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and, once hot, add 750g-1kg of good lean beef mince. Brown the mince and then mix in 2x beef stock cubes and a generous amount of tomato puree plus a good splash of light soy sauce. Now season and add some chopped fresh or dried parsley. Add in the cooked carrots and a large portion of sliced button mushrooms. Lower the heat and let this all cook through until the mushrooms have reduced. Now add 4x cans (1.6kg) of chopped tomatoes; mix through and cover. If the heat is low enough I would now simmer this for 30-45 minutes. (Original Ragu's were simmered for up to 5-hours!) What happens is that the tomatoes melt down into a lovely sauce. If you find the bolognese still a little dry, add a 1/4 to a 1/2 cup of warm water. At this stage it would be good to taste the bolognese, as it can be quite tarty; just add a few splashes of cold milk to soften the flavour.

Serve with pasta of choice, adding salt and olive oil when cooking your pasta to flavour and stop it sticking.

Accompany with garlic bread and a sprinkle of grated parmesan on top.

Cost: Probably about £10 for the lot, but when you consider this will provide two large portions as well as up to half a dozen for freezing, it's great value for money.

Plenty for the freezer