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  2. Nothing original, but inherited from my Neapolitan mum so good enough for me.

    – A wide and deep pan, with a film of olive oil.
    – Equal measures of onions sliced, celery and carrots.
    – Reduce above for about an hour or so over medium heat.
    – When done, add minced beef (I tend to go for 750 g of minced beef, 3 large onions, 3 celery sticks and about 7/8 large carrots).
    – Stir in minced beef, still over medium heat an I add some white wine, one of those Knorr beef stockpots, some tomato paste. I tend to start seasoning at this stage.
    – I allow for another hour over medium heat.

    Now, I have a hand sieve/mangle thing and I pass the cooked product through and if you’ve done it correctly, you will have a sauce of good consistency and a nice light brick brown colour. I don’t like dark brown. I find this keeps well in the fridge, can last for up to 2 weeks and is fantastically versatile, not just with spaghetti, penne or tortellini but also a good dip like sauce with arancini (rice balls). BTW, if you have a good food processor it would work just as well. I don’t like bolognese which hasn’t been passed, have always found it too dry and reminds me of foul school dinners.

    Hope this helps. Sorry I can’t be all Heston & scientific about measures, tend to just see how it goes and what it tastes like whilst cooking.

    • That seems labour intensive, involves huge amounts of vegetables and a mangle I don’t already own! It sounds delicious. I think I’ll give it a go. I’ll visit the local habidashery first thing tomorrow.

  3. Yes. Mine.

    Or rather an ex-girlfriend’s.

    She became an ex quite quickly when after the delicious dinner she’d made and one thing had led to another and afterwards as we lay together, she gently asked what I was thinking, I said “so, do you use beef stock or not? ”

    Undoing somewhat the tenderness of the moment from her perspective, I suspect.

    Anyway, I have no set written recipe but basically quite a lot of onions gently softened in oodles of olive oil until yellow brown. At which point add loads of garlic with care not to burn it. Add the meat and turn constantly on a low flame until brown. Throw in some cubed fattyish pancetta. Add a number of sun dried tomatoes chopped fine, one tin of passata and a goodly squeeze of a high quality tomato purée. Simmer. Add red wine. Stir in a judicious measure of a good beef stock. Simmer some more. Add healthy pinches of Rosemary, oregano and basil. Splash more red. Salt and pepper to taste and simmer gently until reduced to a pasta clinging consistency avoiding wetness.

    After cooking, if you leave for a few hours and reheat gently, it adds considerably to the flavour.

    Years later, I found that actually her secret little ingredient was Soy sauce.

    Imagine

  4. Celery is crucial.

    Some folk favour chopped beef over minced. I can’t remember why.

    I used to like the tinned stuff on a slice of toast. But then at the same age I used to like Slush Puppies.

  6. My version is easy and faff-free: for about 1kg of minced beef/pork (50/50) add 2 medium onions, 2 carrots, 3 stalks of celery, all finely chopped, added after you’ve made the onions glassy and browned the meat. Braise the lot for a few minutes, then add a giant can of tomatoes (or 2 normal), some rough cut fresh tomatoes (about 5), and a litre of decent passed tomatoes. Plenty of black pepper, a touch of chervil or thyme, slow cook for at least 3 hours.

    Garlic is optional, but if you bother at all, 5 or 6 pips.

  7. I make my SpagBol with Prego spaghetti sauce (or equivalent) these days. I also rinse the pasta in boiling water, return it to the saucepan and add generous amounts of butter & pepper. Everyone says it’s delicious.

    I also serve a lot of wine with my SpagBol. Usually a rather audacious Chianti.

    Ooh! And I just learned how to make Chocolate Mousse! It’s freakin’ delicious!

  11. Trust me, Lloyd Grossman does all the hard work, so you don’t have to. His sauces are bloody delicious and pretty natural, if that’s important to you.
    Leaving you plenty of time to deliberate, cogitate etc

  12. I’ve never had spag bol. But I do cook pasta a lot and one thing I’d say about that is, use plenty of salt. I’m not a salt advocate at all; I rarely use it and never put it on anything cooked for me. But pasta boiled without salt (as my brother insists on doing – and then he uses a high-salt content ready-made sauce!) is rubbish.

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