How do you make your Spaghetti Bolognese?

[Ijustlovefood]

Just that

Brown mince and onion in a pan. Throw browned mince into the slow cooker with a jar of sauce. Add mixed herbs and a blob of garlic puree. Leave until I'm really to eat it, stirring now and then.

Chop and sweat onion and garlic with a dash of oil for a few minutes. Add mince and herbs (basil, oregano, maybe rosemary if I feel like it) and brown the meat. Add a tin of chopped toms or passata and enough water that it can simmer down to required thickness while cooking. Beef stock cube, tablespoon of sugar. Maybe a dash of worcester sauce or salt to taste.

Onion and garlic in pan, once soft add mince, mixed herbs, oxo cube, lots of Worcestershire sauce. Add red wine. Cook for a few minutes, add tin of plum tomatoes and half a tube of tomato purée, and a bit of water. Simmer for at least a couple of hours, longer if possible.

I've just made some! Blitz carrot, onions, celery & garlic in the food processor & fry with some bacon. Brown the mince (beef & pork), add a tin of tomatoes, passata, wine, beef stock cube, Worcestershire sauce, simmer for as long as possible. Yum.

Same as AlmostStace but throw in some wine if I have some and usually some other veg grated, like carrots, courgette or something. And a stock melt gives an amazing flavour instead of a cube. Then mix in the spaghetti and grated cheese on top. Yum.

Finely chop onion, garlic, celery and carrot and fry until soft. Add mince, beef stockpot, loads of Worcestershire sauce, dried mixed herbs. Fry chopped bacon in a separate pan whilst mince browns. Put the bacon in with the mince, pour in half a bottle of red wine and cook on high for 10 mins to burn off the alcohol. Lower to a simmer, add pasata, a glass of water, tomato puree and torn basil, and leave for at least an hour.

Google bbc big batch bolognese and that's the recipe I use, except I add 1.5 stock cubes and some balsamic instead of red wine or vinegar, and 1 extra can tomato.

Basic method is to brown meat in batches and remove to bowl, then soften onions, then sweat garlic and other veg, then add in stock cubes/herbs, put meat back in, put tomatoes and other liquids in, simmer for 2 hours.

Warning it makes tonnes!

Making some right now :) I make a huge pan and then we stick the extra in the freezer for when we're too busy to cook from scratch.

I dice onion celery and carrot and soften in a large pan for a few minutes with a drizzle of olive oil. Mince a couple of cloves of garlic and stir them in. Chuck in the meat, beef mince on its own is fine, or a mix of beef and pork mince is nice. Stir until browned, and then use a masher to break up any massive clumps. I chuck in a splash of red wine at this point if there's any hanging around. Oregano and basil, salt and pepper, to taste. A couple of tins of chopped tomatos and some tomato puree, and a beef stock cube. If i have any fresh tomatos to use up, they go in as well as a teaspoon of sugar. Simmer gently for a good hour, stirring occasionally.

Boil pasta according to instructions and serve up with a dollop of the sauce and some grated parmesan. yummmmmm

Delias ragu bolagnese

Fry onion garlic , bacon and chicken livers and mince, add chopped tomatoes, puree and red wine and italian herbs

Carrot, celery and onion sweated down with a little salt, then add garlic.

Brown chicken livers and cubed pancetta until golden
Add mince/cubed beef and brown
Red/white wine, reduce
Tomato paste, passata, seasoning.
Add herbs, lots of bay leaf
Simmer for an hour or so.
Add milk, simmer for another hour
Check seasoning when cooled slightly. I usually add some lemon juice at this point.

I make a huge vat of it when I do it, and freeze in batches, use in lasagne etc.

Brown mince and onions In Pan. Add tin of tomatoes, tomato purée and some beef stock. I also add carrots and mushrooms to mine. Bring to the boil and let it simmer away.

My DH does it like this.
Sauté chopped onion, carrot, celery
& frozen garlic in a tiny bit of rapeseed oil for 5 mins.
Add mince, when browned drain it.
Saucepan back on the stove add 2 tins/boxes of chopped tomatoes. A big squeeze of tomato purée, give a good stir.
Add mushrooms & bell peppers (frozen or fresh).
Add 2 beef oxo cubes crumbled. Then add 1 or 2 fennel seeds, a good shake of dried parsley then about 2 tablespoons of Italian herbs.
Stir & add a grind of salt, pepper & a dash of Worcestershire sauce and a around 2 tablespoons of frozen chopped basil or a big handful of torn fresh basil.
Final ingredient a pinch of sugar.
Bring to boil then simmer for 20 mins.
This makes enough for 2 nights dinners (there are 3 of us) & usually a single or double portion for the freezer.
That's how his Mum taught him & it's delicious.

My sister lives near Bologna, where a Ragu doesn’t have tomatoes in it (bar a dollop of tomato purée). Conscious of her tut tutting, my approach is: onions, carrots, celery (I can’t stand celery so will only buy it for this but it does improve it), diced up small. Sweater for at least twice as long as you think it needs, with garlic. Mince (beef, adding lardons and pork mince too makes it better) is browned and stirred around. Choooed tomatoes, herbs, and whatever’s going in terms of wine or Worcestershire sauce or stock cubes. Leave as long as possible.

Oh God last time we had this thread it was all out war...

Who knew so many mumsnetters had Italian grandmothers?

Tbf my grandma's English and she can't cook a fecking Sunday roast to save her life...

For my 2 cents, the most important thing is time.... A bolognaise should be cooked long and slow.

I chop small (in a food processor) celery 2-3 sticks, carrots 2-3 and an onion, then fry gently in a tiny bit of oil for 15 minutes, remove this from pan and then brown minced lamb (2 large packs of 10%fat), then pop this in the food processor to smooth it a bit, then strain off any fat from meat, and put meat and veg back into pan (it is less of a faff than it sounds) then add a jar of passata (think 500mls?) and some vegetable stock (250mls), some tomato purée, some cheaper balsamic vinegar (I buy more expensive stuff as salad dressing, so also buy cheaper for bolognese) then leave it to simmer for as long as possible on a low heat. I don’t have a snow cooker but if I did I would try it in that as currently do long slow cook for 2-3 hours covered.

Tiny bit of oil, sauté pancetta/lardons, then add diced onion, carrots and celery, season with salt and pepper. Allow to soften then add beef mince and crushed garlic. Brown the mince then add Italian seasoning, and maybe a touch more oil, depends on how much fat is in the mince, add tomatoe purre, worchester sauce, 2 crumbled oxo cubes and 2 tins of tomatoes, chopped or if plum mash them up. Half fill tins with water to rinse out and add extra liquid. Cook on job for 2 hours or on low in oven for 3 hours.

Well it does take DH just over a hour from start to finish.
But it looks like celery, carrot, beef stock cube or melt & pinch of sugar are the magic ingredients!

I blitz onion in a food processor due to ds not liking them, to hide them. I cook them in olive oil for 10 minutes which seems ages. i add 2 chopped garlic cloves and cook for another few minutes. I add 5 % fat mince to pan, brown it. I add a tin of chopped tomatoes or sometimes passata with some water, salt and pepper, dried herbs and bay leaves and simmer for an hour or hour and a half.

Chopped celery, carrot and onion fried off in a little bit of olive oil. Add minced beef and pork. Brown. Add a bit of tom puree, season. Cover and cook on low for as long as possible e.g. at least two hours. Serve with polenta or tagliatelle, never spaghetti or your bolognese husband might leave in disgust.

oh yeah, pinch of sugar to counteract acidity of tomatoes

NB you can buy pre chopped soffrito (onion, carrot, celery) which really reduces the prep time if you don't have a food processor to chop veg

The nicest bolognese recipe I've found is the Annabel Karmel kids recipe with baked aubergine. It's bloody gorgeous.

Onion mushrooms carrots and celery in a pan til soft the put in slow cooker. Brown mince and put in slow cooker. Add garlic and oregano then chopped tomatoes and beef stock. Leave it til I'm ready to eat.

Surrey have a fruit and veg market. Dd managed to remember to go today, and came back with spring onions, 6 beef tomatoes and a punnet of raspberries for £2. The raspberries have already been eaten

Wrong thread