How do you make your spag Bol?

[spinthebottle]

Just that really?

Most will not like my variation but we all like it like this in my family.
Brown onions, add mince (usually beef but sometimes lamb which works really well) & garlic.
Add beef stock, Worcestershire sauce, red wine, oregano, salt & pepper, bay leaf.
Then add finely diced sweet potato, red pepper, grated carrot. Tin of chopped tomatoes and a carton of passata.
Let it simmer for at least an hour.
Add sliced mushrooms for the last half hour of cooking.
Tastes much better the next day.

The way my nonna taught me ! So I will have to hide this thread now otherwise I will start reading about peppers and Worcestershire sauce which will have her spinning in her grave!
Haha me too!
Soffritto with extra onion, extra lean mince, due tins of chopped tomatoes, tiny bit of sugar, salt, pepper, origano. Don't usually add wine as don't usually drink at home but would if I had guests

And me. It should be "semplice", as above. But I always add wine.

Red onion and garlic, soften, mushrooms if I have them. Add mince, brown. Tinned tomatoes, , tom puree, bit of water, beef Oxo, Italian herbs. Simmer.

On MN people throw absolutely fucking everything in there. Everything. Crisps, nutella, haribo, grass clippings. Goldfish died? Bung it in the spag bol.

Still fondly remember the maniac who put mint sauce in hers 'because it makes it taste like minted lamb chops! '. Nobody even batted an eye.

@Ihopeyourcakeisshit ah, you're here for the same reasons as me! Love a good spag bol car crash thread.

Wear disposable gloves to chop onions and garlic to avoid smelly hands.

Brown mince, onions and garlic in a bit of olive oil while wearing pyjamas so I don't smell meaty all day.

Lob the above into slow cooker, add carton of passata, tin of tomatoes, black pepper, salt and mixed herbs. While also making last minute request from child for cheese on toast, dishing out his meds and sticking things into his lunch bag.

Turn on low, go upstairs and get dressed, leave house dragging child behind me.

Come home to a house smelling like someone's cooking my tea for me, give it a stir, throw pasta into slow cooker, preheat oven, go and get changed out of white blouse and pile hair up out of the way.

Stick garlic bread into oven, resist urge to throw pasta against wall to see if it's done.

Serve in huge bowlfuls to awaiting hungry faces, enquiring whether they want 'that smelly cheese' sprinkled on and what cutlery they think will make it easiest for them.

Wash down with a nice red wine.

When I've got time I like to follow the way Jamie Oliver makes it in his Ministry of Food cookbook.

Soffritto
Garlic
Pancetta
50/50 beef / pork mince
Tin toms
Passata
Red or white wine
Oregano
Beef stock
Splash Worcestershire sauce

Controversial bits as advised by Heston B:
Half a star anise and teaspoon Thai Fish sauce. Apparently some scientific thing about opening taste buds and making you taster the richness of the meat more, it does actually seem to work!
Simmer for about 2/3 hours.

Don't do what I did once when trying to scale up for 10 people. I thought I would be "authentic" and use chicken livers but got my maths wrong.
I used 10x the ratio of livers that I should have.
I basically made pate bolognaise. It set in the saucepan and the whole house stank for a week. 🤢

@waterjungle. Pate Bolognese

@HoobleDooble. How do you do pasta in a slow cooker?

Shameless place marking for some new ideas

Australian Bolognese. Very funny!

Im not a great cook but spaghetti bolognese is something I can cook ok!
I fry onions and garlic in a small amount of oil.
Add seasoned (salt n peppered) mince. Add beef stock cube, tomato puree, chopped tomato, carrot slices and mushrooms.
Put a lid over the pot and leave on low heat till it's all cooked through.
Add a big dollop of butter on the spaghetti and serve with plenty of cheese

ha ha @SirSamuelVimesBlackboardMonito, that's great. Love your username too.

@JesusInTheCabbageVan

Onions
Mushrooms
Garlic
Oregano or Italian mixed herbs, whatever is in the cupboard
Quorn mince
Tin toms
Dollop of tomato chutney (to remove some of the acidity of the tomatoes, makes it nice and rich)
Dollop of Marmite
Black pepper

No specific quantities, just chuck it all in

@SirSamuelVimesBlackboardMonito

Slow cooker. Revolution. Will cook it on low for six hours, it's amazing.

Onions, mince, bacon or pancetta if I can be bothered, tomatoes, puree, red wine if I've got some, jar of bought sauce if it's in the cupboard, basically a "chuck it in the pot and see" type effort. (No peppers or other random veggies though, brolly!). Then six hours of slow simmering with the occasional stir. Job done.

Basically this, slow cooker is the best way, only way my DDs will eat it now

Slow cooker, fairly standard recipe plus cinnamon and cloves

My DC went to a childminder whose husband was a professional cook and Apulian, when we parted I got the family recipe.
No random vegetables and no lentils added, if you do that it turns into a 'Hackfleischsoße' (mince sauce), which is fine, too, but sth different.

Fry garlic. Add onion/ carrot/celery.Cook beef mince in another pan and add them into the vegs. add some mushrooms. add some flour. add tinned tomatoes. add seasoning and herbs. cook until reduced. One of the go to menu when I can't be bothered to cook something more complicated, and done in 30 mins.

On MN people throw absolutely fucking everything in there. Everything. Crisps, nutella, haribo, grass clippings. Goldfish died? Bung it in the spag bol.

Still fondly remember the maniac who put mint sauce in hers 'because it makes it taste like minted lamb chops! '. Nobody even batted an eye.

/////

Please MN mods, we NEED a "like" button

Olive oil in pan, brown mince and onions- add 3 cloves garlic, 1 beef stock cube and 100ml water, add mixed herbs and a little extra oregano. Cook for a couple of mins, then add tomato purée, stir and then add Passata. Sometimes I drain chopped tomatoes and add them in. Didn't today but usually add mushrooms/red pepper/carrots.

My OH and DD love it so must be doing something right.

Say he onion, grated carrot and garlic, add mince to brown, pour in a slug of wine, cook off alcohol, add tomatoes, 1/2 cup of milk, top up with water if need more liquid. Simmer until cooked. Let it sit for a bit with the lid on. Stir though cooked spaghetti, add chopped basil

Veggie version
Saute veg as above, add rinsed and drained brown lentils, pour in slug of wine, cook off alcohol, add tomatoes, and a little stock. Cook until lentils are soft and sauce is thickened. Stir through spaghetti and add basil.

"Say he"??
"Saute"!!

Finely chopped carrot, celery and onion sauté for at least 30 mins, longer if I have time, set aside, brown 500g mince add mushrooms add veg, 2 cans chopped tomatoes, 2 cubes frozen garlic, 2tsp Italian seasoning, cook 30 mins on low. Not authentic but it's how my Italian cookery teacher from Sicily makes it