My own, very particular, Spaghetti Bolognese
This recipe has heft. Usually this is a bad thing to say about food, implying heaviness or stodginess, but I mean it as a compliment. This is good, hearty fare with a wide enough range of flavours and ingredients to make it a delicious take on a classic recipe.
It's not a subtle dish; there are broad strokes involved, and yet there is still a certain amount of awareness and restraint needed in the making of it. This Bolognese recipe has a sweetness to it that is ravishing, and to keep this sweetness under control and allow the herbs to retain a presence, attention is required attention and frequent tasting!
At the same time, the foundation ingredients are still robust enough to allow you to throw handfuls of this and that in, which is what makes this such an enjoyable dish to make.
I developed this recipe from the one my mum always made us, and I'm sure she developed it more than a little herself as she is wont to do. I know I'm not the only person in the world who thinks their mum's cooking is unequalled, but I do really think that nothing tastes as happy and flavour some as one of mum's dishes.
Anyway she would always make this in a huge steel pot which meant there was plenty left over to be frozen and eaten throughout the week.
My modus operandi would be to feast on the spag bol recipe on an evening, tucking in with all the restraint of a syphilitic Roman emperor, before sitting back semi-comatose and with orange sauce all around my mouth, like a post-coital clown.
Then, the rest of the week would be punctuated by cheeky little Sloppy Joes the bread turning orange with the sweet sauce....
Another reason this recipe is so special to me is because it was the first one I could make without needing specific weights and measurements for the ingredients. It allowed me to cook intuitively for the first time.
My culinary adventures began with me as someone who poured milk into a measuring jug whilst kneeling on the floor so that I could see the 200ml mark straight on.
Mum's Bolognese was something I very quickly learned to judge by the taste, smell and consistency of it. I enjoyed playing with the colours of the food, enjoyed stirring it whilst drinking wine, and enjoyed the herby sweetness wafting out in the steam and filling the kitchen with the promise of good food.
One last thing before the recipe itself I was going to put this article into the Bolognese sauce section, however, in my version of this recipe I include the main ingredients (whether mince or a vegetarian alternative) fairly early on.
This is because I prefer to layer things and have the main ingredients feeding into the sauce almost from the word go.
It should be fairly easy to readjust things so as just the sauce is made, after all, I do appreciate many people may come to this looking for something they can store in a jar which is fine. However, when it comes to mum's spag bol, I need to know everything is together, intimately and succulently, early on.
Here's the recipe!
Spaghetti Bolognese serves two (easily!)
1 packet (200g) of mince (try turkey mince instead of the usual lamb or beef)
2 large onions (chopped)
4 cloves of garlic (chopped or crushed)
Tomato puree
Tomato ketchup yes, ketchup. It's vulgar but it works, trust me.
1 tin of chopped tomatoes (consider replacing or combining - this with loose tomatoes chopped yourself)
1-2 Peppers
2 handfuls of mushrooms (roughly chopped)
Freeze dried Italian herbs
Dried oregano (consider combining with fresh, chopped oregano)
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Pasta
Parmesan cheese (grated)
1. Heat the oil and add chopped onions and garlic
2. Fry until slightly golden/translucent
3. Add the mince (meat or vegetarian alternative) and fry on a medium heat until light brown (around five to ten minutes)
4. Add two large tablespoons or one random squirt! - of tomato puree and mix in
5. Season well, add around a tablespoon of each of the herbs and stir in slowly for another five minutes
6. Add a generous squirt of ketchup.
The sweetness of the meal comes primarily from the ketchup and the puree and should be balanced by the oregano and seasoning. Half the fun is checking throughout to see how this balance is coming along.
7. Add the mushrooms, peppers and chopped tomatoes
8. Add a large handful of parmesan and stir into the mix
9. Add more herbs and a drop of water if required. Place a lid on the pot and leave to simmer on a medium heat for around ten minutes
10. Boil water and make pasta
11. Drain water and serve the Bolognese together with grated Parmesan on top.
Enjoy!