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!

Do you need beef stock? It seems like a lot of you don't add it?

Maybe im also not browning the meat for long enough! I only do it until the mince is light brown. Is that wrong?

I must say you are all wonderfully helpful!

where do you get frozen onions???? need some mushrooms and chopped bacon in there too!!

As a chef the first thing that jumps out is use fresh garlic or tubes of garlic puree.
Those granules are shite.
Tom puree adds a depth of flavour too.

Waitrose have a frozen soffrito mix (onions, celery, carrot) as a base for dishes like this.....not expensive either if you're out of time to chop fresh veg 👌

It needs to be low and slow to cook, that's the key
Everyone has their fav ingredients but it needs to cook out!

Carrots, mushroom…

Mine is -
Soffritto (approx 4 sticks celery, 2 large carrots and 1 large onion)
2 cloves garlic
Beef mince (500g)
Pork mince (500g)
2 tins plum tomatoes. Empty out tomatoes into the pot, fill up the tins with water, then add the water
Good squirt of tomato puree
Good glug of Worchester Sauce
Heavy shake of oregano
Veg or chicken stock cube

Bring to boil and then simmer for hours until reduced. 5 minutes before finished, add a good glug of milk.

How long do you cook it for? Simmering for many hours or in an oven at about 140 gives the best result. People don’t cook it long enough. I make a Ragu (delia recipe but take out the chicken livers) and can cook it anywhere between 4-8 hours in a low oven. It’s not designed to be a 45 min meal. Best to cook the Ragu, freeze it and defrost and use it as a quicker meal option.

Oh and I like using half beef and pork mince, plus a good splash of milk helps tenderise the meat

Half pork/half beef is great for bolognaise. Brown the mince and drain the fat

Carrots/celery/onion is a must. A glug of red wine.

I crumble a stock cube in the sauce. Veg works best

teaspoon of sugar in the sauce to balance the acidity

make it in the am and put it in slow cooker for the day on low until dinner time.

Herbs de Provence is a good shout, all mixed, just throw some in. I also add balsamic vinegar and sugar.

It should caramelise a bit not just turn light brown. It adds lots of flavour then.

Much more tomatoes for that much meat. I only use bay leaves, no other herbs.

Use real chopped garlic. Makes all the difference and only takes seconds. Seriously, step away from the powdery yuck.

Always use fresh basil and don't bother with the parsley. Oregano is a must. I use a Knorr rich beef stock pot instead of a stock cube. And for a fresher, sweeter taste with the bonus of added hidden veggies, put grated carrot in, as much or as little as you want. I usually do half as much carrot as there is mince. I also throw a bay leaf or two in as well.

Without changing your recipe too much I would use fresh garlic instead of granules and tinned tomatoes plus tomato paste instead of passata. Proper fresh onion would be better. Add a teaspoon of sugar.

I second adding a splash of milk it really does make a big difference. I think celery is essential or at least a bit of celery salt, I always add a beef Oxo cube, mushrooms, bay leaves and a bit of sugar. I prefer to use chopped tomatoes rather than passata. I also add some liquid seasoning like Maggi or winiary but I add that to nearly everything and have been slated many times on Mumsnet for using them because of the MSG but I like it 😅.

I use fresh onions,mixed herbs,tomatoe purée and tinned tomatoes rather than pasatta .I also put bay leaf in whilst it is simmering.

This is probably a travesty to actual Italian people but I finely dice.two slices of smoked bacon, get that sizzling in a big pot with some olive oil, add finely diced red onion x2, carrots x3-4, courgette x1-2 and mushrooms, sweat down until softened, add 750g mince (beef is good or at the moment I'm using turkey because I have gallstones and trying to reduce red meat), turn the heat up so it browns, add quite a lot of garlic (fresh crushed or the paste in jars from the world food section), dried oregano, a stock cube (kallo are better than Oxo, match to the meat you've chosen) then add 3-4 tins finely chopped tomatoes, squirt of tomato puree, salt and pepper and a pinch of sugar and two to three tins of water, bring to a fierce simmer, then turn down to a low simmer cook it for at least two hours, you can add water if you need to. You can add fresh basil towards the end if you want.
Makes a vast quantity , freezes well.

Oh I don't use celery anymore because DH is allergic

@IncomingTraffic hey- that's my recipe!! Lol

Ditch the frozen onions and the garlic granules, fresh ingredients will taste much better.
Start with sofrito, as a base, it's a mixture of finely diced onions carrots and celery. Fry it gently in olive oil until it's soft, and the onions are golden, then add the meat little by little, fry it thoroughly so it's well browned.
Add liquids such as passata, a little stock, some red wine.
Flavourings such as finely chopped garlic, Mediterranean herbs (rub these between your palm & fingers as you add them to break them down to release their flavours) a bay leaf or two, salt & pepper, an anchovy or two if you have a jar open.
Simmer long and slow, at least an hour and a half as a minimum, the longer the better, three hours is adequate.

Use a good quality pasta, don't over cook it. Serve with a nice Parmesan.

Mixed spice?

Soffritto
steak seasoning

Fry chopped onions, 2 cubed carrots, 2chopped sticks of celery in olive oil.
Add 2 cloves of finely grated garlic.
Add 500g of beef mince and fry until browned.
Add one cubed Oxo
Add 2 tins chopped tomatoes
Add 1 teaspoon of dried Italian herbs
Add 1 bay leaf
Good glug of red wine.
Simmer for as long as you can.
At least an hour.
Add black pepper
Add tomato puree
Add 2teaspoons of pesto.
Remove bay leaf.

This is how my Italian cousin does hers.

This ^^

The key to anything that has onions in is to cook the onions first until they are golden before adding other ingredients. It adds a depth of flavour that you can't replicate any other way.