Any good cooks out there, recipe help!

[Gigi89x]

Im a basic cook, i have a young DS so i look for cooking quick meals.

One of my regular meals is a spaghetti bolognese but its always tastes OK but not great 🤣

I normally add

Beef mince 500-750g
1 jar of passata 400g
Frozen Onions (does this impact the taste?)
2 teaspoons of Dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 beef stock cube
Shake of lea and Perrins

2 teaspoons of garlic granules
Salt and pepper

Any help on how to make a nice bolognese would be helpful😂 !! Without any red wine please!

The milk isn’t random btw! https://www.delish.com/uk/food-news/a29755077/bolognese-sauce-milk/

Onion chopped
Celery stick chopped
Carrot chopped or grated
2-3 garlic cloves finely chopped

Fry for a few mins

Add 500g mince
1 tbsp tomato purée
Oregano
Thyme
Basil
Salt and pepper

Fry until mince is browned

125 ml red wine

Fry for a few mins to allow alcohol to evaporate

125 ml milk

Bring to boil

Add tin chopped tomatoes
Add either beef stock pot or dash of Worcestershire sauce

Bring to boil then reduce heat and simmer for at least 20 mins

It's ok to eat then.

It's even nicer if you simmer on a low heat for 1-2 hours

My recipe is just as per yours but with two things added: tspoon of paprika, tspoon of marmite/bovril

The red wind isn't essential

Worcestershire sauce and tomato ketchup. Cook low and slow.

Use real garlic. Bit of red wine and a teaspoon of sugar.
basil and tomato purée

I don’t add oregano or basil and it’s fine, I do add chopped celery and grated carrot but I do like it a bit sweet rather than too tomatoey. I also add veggie cube rather than beef, preferably mushroom stock cube.
When you are saying nice what exactly do you mean?

I didn't know you could buy frozen onions! Are they already pre chopped?

And diced celery is good with the carrots

Soften the onions first, then brown the meat really well
add all your other ingredients
use fresh garlic
add a slice of smoked bacon

red wine
pancetta
soffrito
i add miso paste for umami

definitely sugar, it makes all the difference
and a tiny drop of cream, to take the edge off the tomatoes
and always Mutti tomatoes ❤️
and echo nutmeg, I add it to so many dishes!

bacon, onions, carrot, celery if you have, chop finely, fry. Add minced garlic. Add mince and brown. Stock cube-no other salt. Passata, wash tub out with water. Simmer. Simmer. Simmer. Good squeeze of tomato purée. Simmer. A splash of milk. If kids don’t like onions or carrots, grate them. They also fry quicker.

I can’t stand Italian mixed herbs, I found I prefer it with parsley instead.

As other Pp said carrot, mushrooms and garlic.

I sometime stir in a few table spoons of cream cheese to make it creamy

Oh and grate in a courgette for added veg

Frozen onions and cook them with the herbs.
Add the garlic but Chuck in 4/5 cloves of it
Tin of plum tomatoes
2 teaspoons oregano
2 teaspoons basil
Tablespoon of tomato purée
Teaspoon sugar
Rich beef stock pot/cube with a tin of water (use the tomato tin)
2 bay leaves

Leave to simmer for an hour or 2 then blitz with hand blender/stick or leave chunky if you prefer.

The longer you leave it to simmer the better.

Diced carrots. My bolognese tastes so much better with carrots. Also simmer for an hour or so to allow the flavours to develop and mingle.

Thank you all! I will give this a try!

I only cook it for 30-40 mins - is this ok?

I've just given you a recipe for sauce.

Mince (the cheaper mince is better because of the flavour) and add carrots, celery, onions and garlic.

An hour would be better but 40 minutes, lid on and leave in the pot until it cools.

I add diced celery and carrot. Also some Worcestershire sauce.

But the special ingredient is time, simmer low and slow. As long as possible.

I don't think this is long enough, I cook mine in a casserole in the oven for 2 hours or so (fairly low oven, about 130) You're not giving it long enough for the depth of flavour to develop.

You are browning the meat first aren't you? Like, really brown? And the veg?

Make sure you have enough salt in it too.

I have an instant pot and whack it in there for half an hour, but only after everything is very well browned.

one of the best, most authentic suggestions here....

An Italian waiter (in Italy). Told me the sauce was garlic tomatoes and lots of basil. No onions, nothing else. It was delicious

That’s what my friends Italian mum does (she owned restaurants back in the day).

I know there is no authentic ragu recipe as it all depends on the area of Italy you come from, but there's a basic recipe.. seriously, some of these suggestions of adding ginger, mixed spice, cinammon are unbelievable 😕

I agree with previous posters who have suggested more oregano, basil needs to be a 'must' herb, tomato puree & a pinch of sugar to counter balance the acidity.

OP, your recipe sounds really good, not easy cooking with little ones in the house. Just try some of the suggestions & adapt to your taste 🙂