Friday Favourites - Spaghetti Bolognaise

I don't think I have ever met someone that dislikes Spag Bol its delicious and real comfort food and I'm pretty sure just quietly that this recipe is the reason my mister wants to marry me. There might be other reasons and recipes too but this one sealed the deal.

Here it is my favourite and easiest Spaghetti Recipe.

Ingredients;

1 or 2 large brown onion diced

4 cloves of garlic roughly chopped

Olive oil

300g Beef mince 

300g Pork mince

1 teaspoon Beef stock powder

1/2 cup ~ cup Dry red or white wine

2 table spoons tomato paste

1 Can of diced tomatoes

1 Jar of tomato sauce

Dried Oregano

Dried Basil

Dried Parsley

I ~2 bay leaf

1 teaspoon sugar 

1~2 cups water

Optional a few drops of chili oil or fresh or powdered chili can be used 

Salt & Pepper

 

How To;

Slowly heat a generous amount of olive oil and add onion -when it just starts to turn translucent add garlic after roughly a minute add mince and sprinkle with beef stock powder at this stage stir meat constantly to stop it becoming lumpy and a few shakes of salt. 

Once meat is browned add the can of tomatoes and wine and simmer until wine is mostly evaporated.

Stir in tomato paste and sugar add jar of tomato sauce (I've tried many brands however a cheap brand wont make all that much difference because we are adding in so much flavour).

Add one or two bay leaves, approximately a table spoon each of oregano, basil and parsley and some freshly ground black pepper mix all this in I also add a couple of drops of chili oil or Tabasco at this stage. Add a cup of water and lower the heat to as low as it will go and cover with lid. 

I slow cook this for at least 2 hours stirring occasionally add more water if necessary.

Notes & Observations; 

Other things that I sometimes add to this mix if I have some on hand are carrot, mushrooms and bacon just add after the meat is browned.  

Save on a cheaper jar of tomato pasta sauce and instead use the money to get shaved parmasan cheese, its so much nicer than the powdered type. This isn't the 70's anymore you can do it.

Now I'm not one for measuring so don't panic if you want to use less or more of something this is such an adaptable recipe.

The wonderful thing about Spag Bol is that you can forget an ingredient and add it later. Its easy just to bung all the ingredients in a pot and let the magic happen its a very difficult dish to mess up really.

Bon Appetit