Good spaghetti bolognese recipe?

[PriestJPN]

Try as I might to do the ultimate spag' bol' it always turns out a little lacking in flavor; not really 'meaty' enough...

If anyone had a good recipe for that (or indeed any good pasta dishes), I'd love to know...

[elglg]

Give this one a whirl, well tasty:

1 Onion
2 Carrots
3 Cloves of Garlic
1 lb of Steak Mince
1 Glass of Wine
1 Oxo Cube in a mug of Boiling Water
1 Bottle of Pasata
1 tin of Tomato Puree
1-2 tsp Basil
1-2 tsp of sugar, or to taste.
Salt/Pepper


Finely chop the onion and carrots and fry in some olive oil at a medium heat. Crush the garlic and add to the pan, When the onions become soft add the mince and fry. Once all the mince has turned brown add the glass of wine. And let it simmer. Then add the rest of the ingredients, The sugar is added to reduce the bitterness of the pasata/puree and the amount varies depending on who's is used, and slowly simmer for upto an hour. By then it will have reduced quite a bit and you will be left with a rich bolognese (sp?) sauce. For increased flavour make the night before and leave in the fridge the reheat when needed.

[5lab]

priest - try adding some herbs and such - might beef up the flavour a bit. or add more beef. lol

[NeilI]

Similar to above;

2 Red Onions
3 - 4 cloves of crushed Garlic
500g of Steak Mince
1/2 - 1 bottle of good full bodied Red wine.
Serving of Beef stock. Or your own recipe.
1 packet of 'luxury' on the vine tomatoes.
1 Bottle of Rustica or Passata.
Fresh, roughly chopped Basil, Oregano and Parsley.
Freshly ground Salt and Black Pepper.


Gently fry a couple of finely chopped red onions and 3/4 cloves of crushed garlic in a little olive oil.
Add in a pack of steak mince (usually 500g these days). Make sure you use Good quality mince. Crappy mince has little/no flavour. To be sure, used minced Aberdeen Angus. Nice.

When the mince has almost browned, pour in 1/2 - 1 bottle of a good rustic full bodied wine. Make sure it is a good strong 'un. After a while, add a packet of your local supermarket's finest, best or whatever (luxury range) 'on the vine tomatoes'. Chopped. Using these, eliminate the need for sugar and it tates better IMO.
Then add a bottle of Napolina Rustica (or Passata), chopped fresh oregano, basil and a little parsley, your stock and salt/pepper.

Very gently simmer for a good couple of hours, then if you can, leave for a while, overnight is great!
Or, if it is still not thick enough, continue simmering until it is done.

After leaving for a while, heat back up for serving.
For the best taste, eat with fresh spaghetti, some fresh parmesan and herbs sprinkled on top, a side of garlic ciabatta or bruschetta and a glass of a nice red wine. I like a Chilean Merlot or Malbec with this.

The importance of good stock CANNOT BE EMPHASISED ENOUGH if your previous efforts are lacking in meaty flavour.
I use this recipe when making beef stock. Turns out quite yummy. I'd say to use 1/3 of the final reduced volume per batch of spag bol.
Go and see your local butcher and ask him/her for boiling beef or beef flank and bones or ox-tail.
You may want to tinker with the ingredient levels to suit your taste.

Also, the use of fresh, vine sweet tomatoes is of the utmost importance for a good sweet flavour. If you cannot get hold of them, do as elglg suggests and add sugar, or as some restraunts do, add half a glass of coke....

For an ultra special occasion, search for a stock recipe that uses veal and Game meats. For Uber flavour.

And don't chop the herbs too finely. They just lose the flavour onto the chopping board.

Hope this helps anyhoo.

[NeilI]

I should point out that one of my mates like to marinate the beef overnight in thw wine, garlic and herbs, then properly drain it before adding to the onions. Not tried it myself but he swears by it. And you still add the wine later on.

[DaBeeeenster]

I like to add some balsamic vinegar while cooking the sauce (not too much as it can easily be overdone). Gives the bolognese a nice bite that can often be lacking.

[laura]

never thought of balsamic in that, any ideas on what else to do with balsamic, got an amost full bottle and possibly 6 months to use it..?!?

[floppybootstomp]

I make it pretty much as all the others here, but sometimes add a few rashers of finely chopped smoked bacon. Lean, streaky, all works OK. Asdas do a good beef stock, has red wine in it, £1.78 a jar.

Somewhere round here I have what is supposed to be the very original Italian recipe for Bolognese sauce, has no beef in it at all, I'll try and dig it out.

One idea for Balsamic vinegar: For a side dish during a main meal:

Finely sliced tomatoes, finely sliced onions (red or white) layered and finely drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and balsamic. Tastes good. Doesn't use up much of that vinegar though

[Nick]

Originally posted by laura
never thought of balsamic in that, any ideas on what else to do with balsamic, got an amost full bottle and possibly 6 months to use it..?!?

Stick it in a saucepan with an equal amount by volume of sugar, then gently simmer that down until its a light syrup.

Throw it in the fridge and you got yourself a superb balsamic syrup to garnish with, or add to tomato based sauces or dishes to give them a little zing!

Last for ages!

[PriestJPN]

Now thats a damn fine set of ideas! Cheers folks!

[M@rco]

Now if i told you how to make a proper Italian spaghetti bolognese i would have to kill you

[NeilI]

Originally posted by laura
never thought of balsamic in that, any ideas on what else to do with balsamic, got an amost full bottle and possibly 6 months to use it..?!?

Drinking challange at a par-tay?

Dired Parmesan is always fun for eating reces!

[Alex]

I always made mine with tomato soup... sounds starnge but works really well!

500g lamb mince
1 large onion
Some mushrooms
1 tin tomato soup
2 lamb oxo cubes
1 teaspoon vinegar
3 teaspoons lea and perrins (add more for a fuller flaourif you want)
Mixed herbs is what i always use, though rosemary is quite nice
Slat and pepper to taste


Not the "proper" way of doing it but I think it tastes lush anway!

[Ceefer]

Adding the finely chopped bacon as mentioned above is a superb way of giving a lack-lustre spag bol sauce a bit of oomph. Try to get pancetta, cut it up and quickly fry it in a drop of olive oil before adding to the sauce. Also some finely chopped up chicken livers make a very good addition. Another thing to try is a glass full of dry vermouth when you've fried your onions and mince - keep cooking until the liquid has all but evaporated.
Something else - have some grated FRESH parmesan on the table. That pre-grated stuff smells of sick and tastes of nothing. Fresh parmesan is wonderful stuff and can really lift any pasta dish.

[Saracen]

never thought of balsamic in that, any ideas on what else to do with balsamic, got an amost full bottle and possibly 6 months to use it..?!?

It's one of my favourite ingredients for a quick and tasty mean.

Prepare some meat (I've used chicken, pork, beef) by cutting in small pieces. Bung into a frying pan. Chop a selection of vegetables (I prefer chunky rather than fine-chopped). I tend to use mushrooms and a couple of peppers). Bung in frying pan. Liberally spinkle with balsamic vinegar and soy sauce - quantities according to taste. Simmer until cooked. As the meat is small pieces or slices, it doesn't take long - 15-20 minutes probably.

Serve on bed of rice/pasta/spag to suit or, my personal preference for this, egg noodles.


That's the basic recipe. You can tweak it in all sorts of ways. Add a bit of chilli sauce. Or curry powder. Or a can of tomatoes. Or Garlic. And so on.


If you combine various meats, with different veg selections, and play with different enhancements, you can get endless mileage out of a very basic, easy and fast meal.

Another option is sausages. Grill them first. Let cool. Slice them into, well, slices , then bung in with vegetables, etc. That option only needs long enough for the veg's to cook. Again, serve of rice, noodles, etc.

[BoB_DoG]

I put chicken livers in mine... but i think that makes it something else. It makes it really rich. Bacon is good, but stock is most important