Spaghetti Bolognese? Lol

[foodie145]

What side dishes do you serve with spaghetti Bolognese?
I want to get some more vegetables into the kids, But the only thing to me that goes is garlic bread!!
I do carrots, onions, and celery in the sauce But I make a cracking Bolognese so I don’t want to add in hidden veg.
peas? Salad? What do you do?

Nothing, celery, onions, carrots and tomato are enough.

Could do a side salad. Or add mushrooms.

Spag bol is served in a bowl, there is no space for a 'side'. I often do pasta layer, then rocket leaves and finish off with the sauce.

You don’t need anything on the side really, the Bolognese and the pasta is enough.

If you are adamant on doing one however Tuscan style Broccoli is a good option.

Serve it with courgetti instead of pasta.

Nothing usually as I add veg in the sauce.
Sometimes salad

I always serve a salad along side spaghetti bolognaise in a separate dish otherwise it mixes with the bolognaise and I don’t like that

tender stem goes well with it for a change or asparagus or fine green beans

i know people say you shouldn’t have veg with it but I like it so that’s what I have

Nothing just sauce and pasta.

if I felt the need to add anything it would be a green salad

Personally I use up what's left over in the fridge.
Onions.
Garlic.
Carrots.
Celery.
Make these into a sofritto.
Red or green peppers and mushrooms if you've got them.
Tomato puree and Tim tomatoes as well as whatever pork or beef mince or veal you've got available.
Great tip from many decades ago is to use white wine instead of red and also when cooking the meat use some full fat milk just to break down the proteins.
Some bay leaves and star anise and regular Mediterranean herbs also go a long way.
I've been making pasta sauce since I was about 14 in the 1980s.
I tend to cook it a long time until it evaporates mainly and then freeze it so just a tin of tomatoes is needed to bring it back into our meal with some pasta cooked on the side.
Or make a good bechamel with bay leaves, clove studded onion and nutmeg as per the cookery year cookbook.
I'm still on the bench about plotting pasta for a lasagna because it rarely turns out well in my hundreds of times experience.
Obviously a bit of extra cheese or olive oil and some fresh parsley will add a frissant to it.

Steamed broccoli on the side but I appreciate little ones might not be impressed.

Pasta AND bread? Ugh . Might as well have rice & spuds as well.

Op wants side ideas not a recipe

I have it with courgette and mushrooms with Parmesan and loads of black pepper.

i also like roasted butternut squash with it.

I’ve been known to serve broccoli but that’s getting less popular now they’ve wised up how odd it is!

Serve a starter of crudités and dip, a caprese salad or scrap the garlic bread and serve bruschetta. If your kids would eat them mushroom cooked in garlic go well with bolognaise.

You have tomatoes, celery and carrots plus the meat so I’d consider it a perfectly balanced meal already. Don’t think it needs anything else really. Definitely no hidden veg ruining it. You could always consider skipping the garlic bread so more pasta and sauce are eaten. Sometimes I might do a side salad and the kids won’t touch the leaves but will pick out cucumber, tomatoes and avocado but that’s more if we have unexpected dinner guest so I’m trying to stretch it than worrying about their nutrition! Honestly I think it’s a healthy cooked from scratch meal, let it be! Then give them fruit for ‘pudding’ and voila 5 a day.

If you must, chop some fresh baby spinach up and put it underneath when serving so it wilts.

Skip the garlic bread, what’s the point in adding more processed carbs to the mix. Add some lentils and less mince.

We have salad then the pasta.

Spag bol can be a course on its own, but then it needs to be followed by a leafy green salad and a light pudding.

I know it's not what you want but I always have a green veg in bolognese type sauce. Courgette, peas or stir in some spinach.

Alternatively have a starter or side salad. I used to get DC to make this. DS still likes to do a caprese esque side salad. He improvised a really nice side salad with feta on hols cos that's what we had

Mine is delicious according to my crew, but very unauthentic. I put onions, carrot, celery, peppers and courgette in. Quite finely chopped, but not hidden veg as such.
Edited - tomatoes too obviously

Depends what veg your kids will eat, obviously.
nowadays we have spag bol with a smaller amount of spag and some sort of green veg in the bottom of each bowl (eg brocolli, cavolero Nero) and then the meat sauce on top and then the Parmesan. So there’s no ‘naked veg’.

(the ‘meat sauce’ has loads of veg in too of course - the standard finely chopped onions, garlic, celery and carrot, lots of tomatoes but we like a chopped pepper as well.)

Salad either as a side or a first course.

For a change make it a 'red salad' Lolo rosso or radicchio, beetroot, red onion, grated carrot, radishes, tomatoes, you could even add pomegranate seeds.

I put mixed baby leaf lettuce in the bottom of the bowl, then pasta, then the sauce.

"Ugh" 😆