Spaghetti alla Bolognese recipe

In the pan

Diced herbs and vegetables

An old favourite which was very popular in the UK in the 1960s and 1970s.

Ingredients

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• 50 ml olive oil
• 2 medium carrots, scraped and finely diced
• 2 celery sticks, finely diced (include the leaves is you have them)
• 2 medium red onions, peeled and coarsely diced
• 4 bulbs of Garlic, (or as much as you like), peeled and finely diced
• 4 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
• 450 g beef, minced
• 40 g butter
• 2 x 400 g tins chopped tomatoes
• seasoning
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 400 g spaghetti
• 25g Parmesan cheese, freshly grated (optional)

Method

1. Heat the oil in a deep sauté or frying pan on a high heat.
2. When hot, but not smoking, add the carrots, celery, onions, garlic and parsley.
3. Reduce the heat to medium and cook until the onions are soft.
4. Add the beef and when brown, add the butter and the tomatoes.
5. Cover and simmer for 1 hour.
6. Add the sugar and simmer gently for a further 30 minutes.
7. Meanwhile, boil up three kettles-full of water and pour into a large saucepan.
8. Once the water is boiling, add the spaghetti and cook for 7-8 minutes. Place a metal colander over the pan containing the spaghetti to warm it up.
9. When the spaghetti is cooked, remove the colander and place over ab large bowl or the sink.
10. Drain the pasta and plate it immediately.
11. Cover with the sauce and serve, sprinkled with grated Parmesan if desired.

Serving suggestions

Great on its own, but decent bread and a crisp salad would make excellent accompaniments for the hungry or greedy.

Variations

I don't think that you can vary this recipe too much and still call it 'Spaghetti alla Bolognese'. The Italians seem to have a different name for each variation!

Chef's notes

I think you can use any pasta of the spaghetti type, but do avoid thick, short pasta such as penne, macaroni etc as the sauce is not suited to it.

Make your own pasta from scratch

A 2 minute step-by-step video showing how to make pasta dough from 2 eggs, 100g of flour and a food mixer.

The normal (non-Youtube) recipe for home-made pasta is here if you prefer.

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