Spaghetti Bolognase

Just-a-like-ma-mumma-made-it...well...not quite!


In my house my dad is the KING of spaghetti bolognase, but since being at uni I've come up with a few tweaks, and I reckon I could give him a run for his money!


This is my scrum-diddly-umptios Spaghetti Bolognase, even if I do say so myself!


(Look out for my cheats on how to make it super cheap, on a budget)

Spaghetti Bolognase

Ingredients:

1 cup beef mince (the bags of frozen is fine, usually cheaper!)
1 cup grated carrot (this is the best way of making a mince dish cheaper! If you want a meatier dish today leave this out and do 1 and a half cups mince)
Half a large white onion
Couple of mushrooms
Half an orange pepper
Couple of fresh tomatoes
Tinned tomatoes
Half a bottle of red wine (cheaper the better I say!)
Tomato Puree
Anchovy paste (this isn't essential, leave out and season as normal if you don't have any)
Garlic
Basil (again not essential, can leave out if you don't have any)

Spaghetti

Method:

Fry off the onions and mince in a pan with a little olive oil, until the mince is just cooked through and the onions have softened, add the garlic for a min or two then pour over half of your bottle of cheap red wine, and pour the rest into a glass for yourself! So far so good!

Let this bubble and let the mine and onions take on the flavour of the wine, next add the rest of your veg, i like to chop my mushrooms quite fine and keep the pieces of pepper small and grate the carrot; this isn't so much about texture as it is about flavour!

Once the veg has begun cooking nicely and the pepper has begun to soften pour over your tinned tomatoes. Give it a good stir!

At this stage if you have any anchovy paste and/or tomato puree, add it now!

Now pop the spaghetti in a pan of boiling water plus a little salt, and leave it to cook! Let the bolognase sauce continue to simmer for this 10 mins.

5 mins before you want to serve, add your fresh tomatoes, and rip a bit of basil up and chuck in (i like to save a leaf or two for the top!) Let the tomatoes begin to break down (but don't let the go too mushy! You want them to be lovely sweet pockets of flavour!) and then it is ready to serve!

Pour yourself the last glass of wine out of the bottle (if you've been cooking this right you'll have definitely finished the first glass already!) and tuck in to the best spaghetti bolognase ever!

I've not provided pricing for this dish because the price can vary wildly from the quality of your mince, whether it is fresh or frozen, and whether you have the extras such as anchovy paste, and basil.

(This is where I remind you again that you can get your herbs for free if you have a windowsill, a pot, and some seeds! I must write a post on this...)

Enjoy!


Emma