I really fancy a hearty spaghetti Bolognese! Tips

[CallingFromLondon]

Does anyone have any tips? How do you make yours?

All I'm looking to make is a nice, simply and hearty (very yummy), spaghetti Bolognese - With cheddar cheese on top

Made one yesterday which was delicious (& I'm not keen on spag Bol).

Couple of handfuls of frozen onions & frozen peppers sautés in a pan (frozen saves using oil), along with a large diced carrot & diced celery (add courgette too if you have any) & some chopped garlic. Sauté with some oregano, seasoning& a couple of beef oxo cubes with water (or red wine if you have any) & some Worcestershire sauce. Simmer til veggies soften. Add 2/3 cans of tomatoes & simmer for 30 mins or so. Add a glut of milk. Allow to cool. Once cooled, blend to make tomato sauce.

In a separate pan, brown off beef & pork mince until it starts to go crispy. Add another beef oxo cube, season & again some wine if available. Cook til wine evaporates.

Mix mince & sauce & either simmer together for an hour or more or put in slow cooker on low/med for few hours.

• glug not glut of milk

Add mushrooms and use chicken stock along with the tomatoes. Homemade chicken stock or even gravy. Cannot stress the homemade bit enough!

Peppers have no place in a spaghetti bolognese 4forksake. 😄
Fry bacon lardons, add Onions, garlic, celery, carrots. Minced beef. Good slug of red wine, tomato purée, oregano and bay, two tins tomatoes and beef stock. Simmer slowly for hours.

4fork That sounds delicious! Do you know if you can use oxo cubes for vegetarians?

DH and DS veggie

Cook it for at least four hours (minimum) and always start with lardons.

I do spag bol quite simply and don't really add lots of extra vegetables (but if you like them you can add with the meat).

So I chop onions into nice small dice (or use ready chopped ones) and give them a gentle slow fry in a TBSP or so of olive oil over a fairly low heat, for maybe 10-15 mins. Then add a couple of crushed cloves garlic and fry for a few mins more. Then I turn the heat up a bit, add the mince and brown. Then I add a jar of passata which is thicker and richer than regular tinned tomatos, a squirt of tomato puree, a half glass or so of red wine and some seasonings to taste (a dash of worcester sauce, some mixed herbs and salt and pepper). Bring it all to the boil and then turn right down, let it simmer for at least an hour until the sauce is reduced. At this point I usually let it cool overnight and reheat the next day, I think it actually tastes better, but of course you can eat fresh if you can't wait ...

Google's Lardons

For a veggies one the Quorn one works really well, the red pesto really makes www.quorn.co.uk/recipes/quick-spaghetti-bolognese

1/3 lamb mince - gives a really meaty flavour & texture

Base of celery, onion and carrot brunoise and sweated off with olive oil and salt in heavy pan
In advance prepare tomato sauce: tinned tomatoes, an onion and five tablespoons of butter plus salt a la Marcella Hazan cooked over a low heat for a long time discard onion. Add above chopped veg to sauce. Keep to one side
In heavy pan fry off and skim fat from good minced beef. Deglaze pan with a mahoosive glass of nice red wine. Add some good beef stock , reserved sauce and freshly ground black pepper and garlic.
Cook in oven on low heat checking for drying out for minimum three hours.
Add chopped fresh oregano. Check seasoning.
Stir through cooked tagliatelle not spaghetti

I’m fecking starving now

Definitely cook it the day before.

Frozen low fat mince.

Hmmmm, if they're vegetarian they won't be wanting a meat Bolognese.

I'd make 4forkssake's tomato sauce, using vegetable stock and omitting the Worcester sauce (contains anchovies) - maybe replace with a few drops of mushroom ketchup? Fry some mushrooms, then add the sauce and lentils, then cook on a low heat with some more water added.

So make sure no beef stock, no bacon, no beef or pork mince.

Maybe do yourself a separate one?!

Can I not just replace the meat with fake mince?

Don't want to eat shitey lentil.

smoked bacon makes a good edition, I also always add a dollop of marmite, grated courgette & a dollop of Philadelphia (adds creamyness)

Full fat mince.

The problem with replacing with fame mince is that straight away it tastes lighter and less rich... Perhaps adding things like blitzed sun-dried tomatoes might help? You need to work harder to add more richer flavours I think. Also red wine

No help to you, but for anyone else searching the telegraph bolognese recipe is the best I've ever tried. (Can get access to a webpage from 2016 so is not paywall protected). But if you like really rich hearty Bolognese, then Jamie Oliver's Classic Spaghetti Bolognese is also worth a look.

I think @eatmycheese version is the best, with possibly the addition of bacon lardons and a mixture of pork and beef mince instead of just beef.

No mushrooms, no peppers.

Yes any stock would work. I forgot I also add mushrooms to the mince once browned off to fry for a while. And yes, omit the Worcestershire sauce if they don't eat fish.

Mine isn't that simple or veggie friendly. Two or three times a year I make a vat of ragu (with cream, and chicken liver and all the extra flavours that take it to the next level) and then freeze it. Veggie spag bol sounds.....challenging.

Placemarking

I've been looking for a decent bolognaise recipe for ages

you need to cook it for aaaaages so it's a lovely rich sludge.

But you are ruining it with cheddar cheese!!

Use steak mince.
Brown it off with diced onions and mushrooms
Add a tin of chopped tomatoes
Add a beef stock cube dissolved in about 2 fl oz of water.
Add. Tomato puree
Add Heinz tomato ketchup (about 3 table spoon fills)
Add 4 bay leaves
Add mixed herbs
Add oregano

Simmer for 40 minutes.