To ask what you throw in your spaghetti bolognese

[bluebells100]

Just wondered what you all put in it to give it more flavour and also to bulk it out to make it go round more.

The reduced salt and sugar baked beans or a tin of kidney beans

Beans or kidney beans in a spag bol. No. Just no.

That's 1 step away from it being a chilli.

See, white wine and beans are all kinds of wrong to me.

My gorgeous italian nonna always added chopped chicken livers that melted into deliciousness but I cant just bring myself to handle them. Yes, I know.

Throw in what you like but dont call it bolognese...some of the things i read, my grandmothers are turning in their graves...

Actually DH is cooking spag bol tonight.

It will be:

beef mince
onion, copped in large pieces, probably with skin on
carrots
dolmio

I'll eat it as i'll be hungry after the gym but it's not spag bol.

Just making one at the moment for dinner.
touch of olive oil, ground black pepper, beef mince, chopped bacon,
garlic, chopped onion, chopped shallot, chopped carrots, sliced mushrooms, beef oxo cube.
sometimes i add courgettes and leeks

i grate a courgette into it

Grated corgette!

I love these cooking ideas threads!

I use Marmite, roasted garlic paste, pine nuts & seeds, chestnut mushrooms, Worcester sauce. Lots of carrot and red pepper.

DC have sweetcorn but sprinkled on it, not in it. If it helps them eat it I'm all for it! (I think it ruins the whole thing and just looks wrong)

Can't stand lentils! I've tried and tried

Def making this at some point this week... yum.

Fry 500g mince in high sided frying pan (mmm.. crispy bits)
then drain the mince and put the fat back in the frying pan
add a large chopped onion (or 2 medium), softened for about 10 mins then lots and lots of finely chopped mushrooms. (bulks it out nicely)
garlic clove or 2
cook for a few mins
drain off the fat (i keep this in the fridge for cooking other food during the week or leave it out for the foxes if I don't use it)
add mince and onion/ mushroom mix back into pan
Then a can of chopped toms and rinse out tin with nearly can of water into pan
good squeeze of tom puree
then good dash of vinegar and sugar (sugar takes away any bitterness from the toms)
taste and add salt and pepper, adding more tom puree/ sugar if need be
cover and slow simmer for about an hour/ 2 hours until naice and thick

Nicer the next day or makes a ruddy lovely lasagna (mmmm.. want spag bol AND lasagna now)

I've tried hiding grated carrots and other veg in it but it tastes odd to me!

My Italian colleague told me to put a glug of milk or cream into the sauce before you leave it to cook in the oven. I don’t know what it does but it makes a huge difference.

@ PositiveVibez Please read my post after that and I hope you aren’t in the same position as myself

Chorizo

500g mince
1 large courgette, grated.
1 large flat mushroom, finely sliced.
1 large onion, finely diced.
1 red capsicum, finely diced.
Sometimes a carrot, grated.
1 large tube of tomato paste
far too much sugar (1/4 c)
1c beef stock
A very good slug of red wine
1 tin of chopped tomatoes.

This makes enough to feed 8-10 hungry people, possibly with some left over. That's my excuse for the amount of sugar, and I'm sticking to it.

Oh, and it's not called Spag Bol', so all grandmothers can stop doing their impression of a rotisserie chicken in their graves on my account!

But it is our family version.

Is it just that Brits tend to call any kind of tomato-based sauce with pasta 'spag bol'?

In the US we would call most of these 'pasta sauces', not bolognese. If you're throwing corn and beans and 'whatever's in the fridge' in the sauce, it's not bolognese!

To answer the OP, the most important thing is to cook the sauce long enough, not just 15-20 minutes. Don't skimp on the salt or garlic. Add a few spoonfuls of the pasta water at the very end, the starch gives it an extra depth of flavour.

Nonna would have a heart attack! Most of pps are NOT bolognese. Don't get my wrong, it doesn't matter, I am sure they are all really tasty (apart from the baked bean one!) but they are technically savoury mince, and shouldn't go anywhere near pasta, rice would be OK though .

Best steak mince
Onions
Grated carrots
Garlic
Tin chopped tomatoes
Sundried tomatoes if any in fridge
Dolmio bolognaise sauce with extra onion & Garlic
Any odds & ends of wine, doesn't matter which colour
Oxo cubes
Salt & pepper
Dried garlic
Tablespoon of sugar( I make up a kilo of mince at a time, freeze half, have one bolognaise meal & then add chillies, cumin, red kidney beans to make chilli, any left is frozen)

Sofretto mix, lazy garlic, roasted red peppers (from a jar- I'm very lazy), tomato puree, tinned tomatoes, any veg lying about (mushrooms, courgette, carrots etc) but cut very finely or grated, and mince. Occasionally red wine too. I'd add saltier things if I didn't have the kids to feed.

Making one right now! DS and I love spag bol but my DH doesn't so I always make it when he's away. Depends on what I have in but today's one has:
Celery
Carrot
Onion
Garlic
Pork mince
Beef mince
Bacon
Oxo cube
Tin tomatoes
Tomato puree
Ketchup
Bay leaves
Stock
Italian herbs
Worcestershire sauce
Sugar
Salt
Pepper

Onion, carrot, celery, lots of garlic, mince (ideally both beef and pork but I don't always have both handy so often just beef), a whole red pepper because I like it, tin of tomatoes or a few skinned and chopped fresh ones, beef stock cube, grind of black pepper, basil and oregano (fresh or dried depending on time of year), bay leaf, squeeze of tomato puree, pinch of sugar, cook slowly for at least 3 hours.

I don't use any oil as I find the mince creates enough fat to soften the vegetables before adding the liquid.

If you serve a ragu the way the italians do pasta, it is pasta with a sauce, not pasta with a huge pile of stuff on the top. It is not predominantly meat.

Got it on the go in the slow cooker, bunged in all sorts. Thanks for all the great ideas.

Carrots
Onions
Garlic
Oregano
Basil
Soy sauce
Henderson’s relish
Tomato paste
Tomato frito
Beef stock

It’s AMAZING

We keep it classic:

Chopped tomatoes
Red wine
Veg stock
Onion
Mixed herbs
Garlic
Salt and pepper
Quorn mince and organic beef mince (veggie and meat eaters in house)

Let it simmer for an hour at least. Always goes down well.

Super sweet sweetcorn