How do you make your spag Bol?

[spinthebottle]

Just that really?

I’m going to bookmark this thread for the next time some incredibly self-righteous poster says that she can’t believe how many lazy and profligate people waste enormous amounts of money (maybe fifty whole pence) on Dolmio when it’s so easy and quick to make pasta sauce.

I got into a huge row once with a poster when I pointed out that her comment that “it only takes a few minutes to chop and fry an onion and throw in a tin of tomatoes” would lead to a grim metallic excuse for a sauce laced with raw onions.

Fry onion and garlic in a pan, add chopped bacon, mince, a stock cube sprinkled over, add tin of chopped tomatoes, chopped peppers, chopped mushrooms, some tomato purée, seasoning and herbs and leave to simmer for thirty mins. I sometimes add a handful of spinach to mine once it's cooked.

Onions
Mince
Roasted tomatoes all different types then blended
Passata
Oxo
Garlic
1/4 of a bottle of red wine
Salt and pepper
Tomato purée

@Dontforgetyourbrolly

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!

I am the person your Nonna warned you about... my half Italian friend says my bolognese is an abomination (and her family are from Bologna so she should know!). Have redeemed myself with lasagne from scratch and polenta 😊

Italian nonnas are already aghast at anybody putting both garlic and onion into anything! It's either/or and dp (Puglian ex chef) thinks the fact I actually leave garlic in things rather than wafting a whole clove in the vague direction of the pan for a nanosecond then fishing it out is an affront to his nation.

Finely dice an onion, carrot and half a courgette if I have one.
Add half a pack of turkey mince (not authentic but I don't eat red meat) and brown it
Add either a can of chopped tomatoes or at the moment 4-5 fresh tomatoes from the plant. Cook down the tomatoes
Add a beef stock cube (it's just the actual meat I dont eat), a wine stock pot thing, a squeeze tomato puree, sprinkle mixed herbs, a cube frozen garlic and a tablespoon balsamic vinegar.
Then add a mug of water and leave on a low heat to simmer for an hour or two.

I usually serve it with twisty pasta as DS1 has special needs and finds it hard to eat spaghetti because it doesnt stay on the spoon.

[quote myrtleWilson]@LeaveMyDamnJam - we're not a spaghetti with ragu household - always parpadelle here! Spaghetti in my house is used for crab/chilli/prawn, this delight from Rachel Roddy racheleats.wordpress.com/2012/01/13/better-ate-than-never/ and for pasta and walnut sauce [/quote]
🥰

Olive oil, soffrito, lots of garlic until softened. Add peppers and mushrooms and extra grated carrots if I have a few spare. Vegan mince and two big heaps of tomato purée. Salt pepper tiny splash Tabasco and liberal sprinkle of Italian herbs. Small jar of Lloyd grossman sauce and carton of Passata. Splash of water and vegan beef oxo cube. Tin of lentils and big handful of frozen chopped spinach. Get to near boiling then simmer for 45 minutes. Freezes lovely too

Cook it down for at least 45 min.
Add large Splosh of milk.

Someone enlighten me, what's with the milk?

I like to call mine "deconstructed".

Into a large mixing bowl I put whole small tomatoes and any veg. I like red peppers, courgettes, broccoli. Add olive oil and seasonings and spread on to a baking tray super high for 2o min (I protect the broccoli heads by ensuring they are covered by other food otherwise they'll burn). I don't eat beef so if I want meat I add chicken. Put a pan on to boil the pasta to be ready when the oven's done. Bam. Fresh, light, full of flavour, easy.

@dudsville. That's literally an entirely different dish

I do a weekday Spag Bol and a weekend Bolognese!

The weekday one is fry off bacon bits, onion, carrot, garlic, celery if I have it, mince, splash of wine or Marsala, chuck in a tin of toms, purée, Worcestershire, oregano, a bit of beef stock, pinch of sugar and simmer for 20 mins, stir through a spoon of crème fraîche before serving. Lots of Parmesan on top.

The weekend one is either Nigel Slater or Jamie's from his Italian book, simmered for 1.5hrs.

Not in the least bit authentic but it has had lots of compliments:

500gm beef mince
One large red or white onion chopped
2 tsps v lazy garlic
1 glass red wine
I tin chopped tomatoes
Good squirt tomato puree
2 bay leaves
3 tsps oregano
Salt and black pepper
1 tbs single cream

Start gently frying the onion. In a separate pan fry the fat off the mince and brown slightly in 3/4 batches (and strain the fat away). Add mince to onion, add garlic and give a good stir. Add wine and bring to a bubble. Turn to a simmer and add tinned toms and puree. Add herbs and salt/pepper. Stir and pop lid on 45 mins. At v end add the spoonful of cream.

Serve with pasta of choice (We like linguini). Grated parmesan and a side salad.

@whirlwindwallaby

I don't use celery because I don't know where to buy a couple of stalks, the supermarket wants me to buy more than I need and I don't like it raw. What do others do?

You can chop celery up finely then freeze it, break some bits off when you want to use it for stews, soups and sauces etc. If a bunch is too much to freeze maybe a neighbour will take some stalks off you.

What I would like is the recipe of when you have it on holiday, you know when it is watery and tart with hardly any meat in it. Yum.

From a packet or a jar with mince of course!

I either do a proper authentic ragu or a quick mince job that the baby likes, my proper ragu is too high in salt for a little one.

The quick mince job is:
Fry Sofrito, then Mince. Add garlic.
2 tins tomatoes, tomato puree, herbs and pepper and simmer for 30 mins.

The proper Ragu starts with lots of butter, sofrito, pancetta and has pork and beef mince. Simmers for hours. Completely different and amazing but not something I do much as we eat with DD and all have the same.

Definitely needs milk or a splash of cream. Anna del Conte's recipe is best. (Tomato purée but no canned tomatoes.)

@VeggieSausageRoll

Someone enlighten me, what's with the milk?

The lactase in milk helps break down the meat. If you cook it for long enough you don't need it but it's a good trick if you aren't planning on cooking it for hours.

Usual way, mince, onions, bay leaf, tomatoes etc but tomato ketchup instead of tomato puree.

Onions, quorn mince, tins of tomato, tomato purée, herbs.

These threads always make me cringe with all the Barefoot Contessas par-boiling the hair of a Tuscan princess and making fresh pasta from Italian sunshine

Olive oil, diced onion, finely diced carrot and celery softened with pancetta, normally also add leek, diced mushrooms and grated courgette. Spag bol is my go to dish to boost families veg intake. Soften all the veg then add crushed garlic, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Push to one side of casserole and add lean beef mince and brown. Mix all together and add 2 oxo cubes, good squirt of tomato puree and lea and perrins. 2 tins of plum tomatoes chopped up and rinse out tins with boiling water. Cook on low for 3 hours. Leave overnight and reheat to eat the following day. If I have a bottle of red wine open I add a slug with the Tom puree.

Fry an onion and a fee cloves of garlic
Brown the mince
Chuck in random assortment of veg -mushrooms, celery, carrots, courgette etc
Season
Tinned toms and tom puree
Beef stock pot
Mix of random herbs

formerbabe, as opposed to people using dolmio, you're quite right!

Fry mince
Fry onions
2 oxo cube
Ad grated carrot
Squeeze of garlic in a tube. Not lazy garlic-too vinegary
One tin tomatoes
One box passata
Glass of red wine
Oregano
Mixed herbs

Slow cooker for 6 hours