Would leek, carrots and peas be weird in a bolognaise?

[Holymoly321]

Am trying to streeeetch out the food I make for DC's. If i make a standard bolognaise sauce but chuck some leeks, carrots and peas in it, I'm thinking I could also make some shepherds pie type meals with the sauce for the freezer. Would a bologanise be weird though with all that extra veg? I normally only use mushrooms and courgettes in it (so these will also be in the sauce i make today)

I add carrots to my bologanise

peas, no. leeks at a pinch.
i'm strictly celery and carrots myself. maybe amushroom or three. what about some lentilsfor bulk?

im really not sure about those veg in it. What about aubergines, peppers, or lentils?

I put quite alot of veg in my bolognaise. Sounds fine to me.

Yes, it would be weird. But not too weird. You're feeding your children, not entering an Italian cookery competition

Leeks are just like mild onions, and you already have onions in bolognaise.

Carrots cut up v small won't show up very much as they are orange and the sauce is reddish.

Peas, erm, not sure I can help you there. They will be noticeable.

I am, however, 100% against making cottage pie with bolognaise sauce. Cottage/shepherd's pie should be gravy-y, not tomatoey. So there.

I think leek and peas would be a bit weird in bolognaise but would be fine for shepherds pie.

Good point taipo, shepherd's pie can be made with any veg you would have with a roast dinner (and the sauce should be gravy not tomato). Otherwise we have too many meals that are just the same sauce but with potato instead of pasta.

just to confirm, you're supposed to put carrots in a ragu.

Little bits, in with the onions and celery as the base, yep (does anyone actually do that? I never have celery in the house). Not so that they make it carroty. In a cottage pie you could put in chunks of carrots.

i do. in fact i rarely make a sauce base without it. and a bayleaf.

oh god, i out anyhting in my spag bol.

seriously, any veg i have in the fridge/that needs using up.

so I guess strictly it isn't a spag bol, but it does always taste good.

I have useed leeks, carrots and peas beofre now, and have put lentils in.

aduki beans work ok too, as do butter beans.

I tend to use courgettes and peppers as standard for my spag bol, and add in anything else that I have handy.

You are obviously a proper cook Aitch, not a bunger-together-of-stuff-to-make-food

lol. i'm just an ordinary cook i think, but i don't like bunged together tastes, iykwim, when you can just make something else. even when i bung together for soups i don't like it so much as when i've thought about a recipe beforehand.

i do grate carrot into muffins, though, if that helps.

and tuna mayo. i do love a bit of grated carrot.

I'm more of a misser-outer, I hardly ever have celery so when I do italiany things that should have the carrot/onion/celery base it always has onion, always has garlic, sometimes and carrot and rarely has celery.

i will happily chew on sticks of celery, though, so we always have it.

that makes me sound quite healthy, doesn't it?

When I make a shepherd's pie, I put peas in (and tomatoes - sorry DrTrillian!). So I think that would be fine. What about some lentils - that would really bulk it out? Totally non-authentic, but you're not after Michelin stars here, just feeding the family.

I add grated carrot and red lentils to our "bolognese". Tastes good!

It will be fine, ignore the ponciness

In fact, I'd stick a tin of beans in.

I tend to put whatever I have into my spagbol too - and DD, DP and even my MOTHER (who is a fabulous cook) say that I make the best spagbol! I also add a bit of mild to medium curry powder sometimes to give it an extra zing and it seems to make a reasonable shepherd's pie also.

If you put beans (and spiciness) in your spag bol and tomatoes in your cottage pie then how do you distinguish between spag bol and chilli and cottage pie? I like mine to taste different, not just be the same thing but with pasta/potatoes/rice.

Who cares? (except Drtrillion )

I like chilli, I like shepherd's pie, I like bolognaise, I don't really care which one it tastes the most like.

I care because I want to have 3 different meals, not one meal 3 times.

spagbol is supposed to have carrots, onion ans celery in the sauce, chop finely and fry in olive oil ,before adding tomatoes/passata,garlic, basil and whatever else you want in it.if you put chilli into it, it makes arribita sauce! my pet hate is using beef instead of lamb mince, but veg is fine!

as for making shepards pies, just dont add the passata/ tomatoes untill you have cooked the meat and taken out what you need for the shepards pies! to make chilli from bolognese, this is what i do, fry some small bacon pieces and add along with kidney beans and chilli powder and black pepper.