This spaghetti bolognaise recipe started out being much more complicated and slowly I narrowed it down to the bare essentials, so that it tastes great but anyone can make this recipe because it is easy, quick and doesn’t include a lot of herbs and spices that most people don’t have in their kitchens.
Bolognaise Sauce Ingredients:
(I don’t know why it’s called a sauce, sauces are runny and this is meat!)
A little oil for frying
1 large onion
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tbsp sweet paprika (that’s Hungarian paprika, not the hot stuff)
1 tbsp dry oregano (of course the fresh stuff would be even better, and if you do have fresh herds throw in some basil as well)
500 grams Minced beef (you could use minced turkey)
5 tbsp tomato paste/purée
A little water
Salt and pepper
How to make the bolognaise meat sauce:
Put the oil in a sauce pan then dice up the onion roughly and fry.
Add the paprika and oregano - if using fresh oregano add it towards the end of cooking so that it doesn’t wilt - stir a few times then add the crushed garlic and stir a few more times.
Add the meat and let the meat brown stirring for a few minutes to make sure that it doesn’t burn. Once all the meat has a light brown color you can add the tomato paste. Mix the paste into the meat sauce.
Then add about 1/4 cup of water, this just gives you more juice to the meat sauce and it means that if you leave the meat sauce on the gas for a while it won’t burn. You can add more water to the meat sauce every now and again if you want to make the sauce more liquid or if you are busy doing ten other things at the same time and don’t want the meat sauce to burn.
Cook for at least 15 minutes, but you could leave it for up to 30 minutes. The fact that you browned the meat before you added the tomato paste means that you can be sure the meat is cooked.
Taste and season with salt and pepper.
Tips for meat sauce recipe:
The reason you add the spices before the meat and tomato paste is that the heat releases their flavor.
Putting the meat in before the tomato paste means you can be sure the meat is cooked.
The reason you don’t fry the garlic with the onion is because garlic burns easily and quicker than onions. That is why garlic is added a little later.
How to make spaghetti:
Boil a big pot of water. If it is to much water it’s O.K. but if it is too little water it’s not good!
When the water is bubbling and boiling add the spaghetti (shorter pasta is easier to cook and also makes less mess when eating it).
Make sure the water covers the pasta completely.
Wait the time written on the pasta packet, which is usually something like 12 minutes, and then taste it to see if it is ready.
The trick to not getting sticky starchy pasta is to rinse it off under cold water when it is finished cooking.
To serve the spaghetti bolognaise:
Place the pasta in the middle of the plate and top it with the bolognaise meat sauce. If you don’t keep kosher you can sprinkle grated parmesan cheese on top.
About Petal grew up in England and Africa, now living in Israel, avid traveler and writer. Have worked in all of the creative arts - acting, painting, writing and more. Did you enjoy this article?