Please help....watery spag bol....what do I do?

[DitsyDonkey]

I followed he recipe perfectly (Jamie Oliver Ministry of Food) it was going fine until I filled the two empty tins of chopped tomatoes with water and added them to the recipe now it looks like mince, tomatoes and veg swimming in red water!

What to do? Will I just let it cook down? Will it cook down?

Beef gravy granules.

Let it cook down. THe longer it cooks, the nicer it is anyway.

Or do a scoop with a cup to get rid of some of the liquid first.

Cook the water off or add a couple of Oxo cubes or gravy granules.

It will cook down, keep it on a gentler simmer.

Oh thanks a million for the replies. Hopefully it can be saved! I haven't had a disaster like this for years, I should have stuck with my usual method! Damn you Jamie Oliver!!!

That does see like a lot of water but his recipes do work as a rule. How long are you supposed to let it cook down for?

Adding a handful of levels and simmering for 30 min will absorb the water

It is supposed to simmer for an hour but it is over an hour now! I have skimmed some of the water and will love it for a while longer.

Skim and add some bisto to thicken it up

I expect its a bit late now, but cooking down and/or adding gravy granules and tomato purée would work.

If it doesn't thicken enough, add a little cornflour mixed into half a glass of red wine, and simmer for another few minutes.

A handful of porridge oats would help, they 'pretend' to be beef so you don't notice them

if you've got time, chuck a handful of red lentils in, they swell up quite quickly and will thicken the sauce. I alway reckon on a scant half-can of water per can of tomatoes, FFR

I have that book and always thought the suggested amount of water is far too much. I've never made it as I am of the school of thought that spaghetti bolognaise only needs tomato puree, wine and stock, and not tinned tomatoes, but I hope your recipe goes OK OP.

Skimming the water seems like a good plan. Cooking it on high, stirring often to prevent burning would also work. In extreme circumstances I would make another batch without any water at all and mix the whole lot together and freeze the excess

There's quite a lot of discussion on the web about the amount of water in that recipe www.jamieoliver.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=344907

I've learnt not to blindly trust recipes, even in books as they do contain mistakes and some just do not work, which is disheartening and obviously annoying if you end up wasting ingredients, or not having a meal to eat after all your hard work.

If a recipe seems wrong, it is OK to change it, but you need to be a reasonably confident/experienced cook to do this, as obviously most people would assume that Jamie Oliver would know how to write a recipe. But in this sense it would normally be OK to put less water in and add a bit more later if it appears to need it.

I'd add tomato purée and possibly red lentils too. I use red lentils a lot in mincey meals anyway to add bulk but tom purée at the minimum. Lentils will need about another 20-30mins to simmer down and soften.

Good luck I'm sure it will be delicious!

Tomato purée and gravy granules.