Spaghetti Bolognese a la Inglesi

I've seen in the news lately that there has been a movement in Italy to stop making bad bolognese and educated people about what it should really taste like. In 1985 some Italian chef wrote down what he thought should go into a spag bol and it includes stuff like milk, carrots, and white wine. I use none of these ingredients as my recipe is firmly routed in swedish cuisine. This is a dish we used to eat quite often at home and I never got tired of it. It is also the thing we eat on the first night of going on holiday (if it was self catered, which it often was). I've made a few additions and hopefully improvements on the recipe that was handed down to my by mama mia herself (not in the religious context).


Ingredients (serves a small army... but no worries just freeze it and I use it as a base for many other recipes)

500g minced beef
1 onion
3 cloves of garlic
olive oil
1 beef stock cube
2 500g tins of chopped tomato
3-4 fresh tomatoes
1/2 glass red wine
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp oregano
salt and pepper
parmesan cheese
spaghetti (100g per person?)


Directions:

Finely chop onion and and peel and put garlic in a garlic press (or chop finely). Add to a saucepan and with a splash of olive oil. Fry on medium heat till onions start turning golden. Add beef mince and sprinkle over crushed beef stock cube. Fry till beef has browned nicely. Add the two tins of tomatos and mix in with the rest of the stuff on the pan. Chop the fresh tomoatoes roughly and add to the pan with the red wine. Bring to boil and then simmer (this can last for ages... my friend Harry suggests a few hours as a minimum... but I reckon 30 mins is fine... I guess the longer the better). Add the two bay leaves and I normally add the oregano now but my mother always told me to add it at the very end bc it can make the sauce bitter (in my experience this has never happened). Salt and pepper to taste and then just leave to sputter till you are ready to eat.

As for the spaghetti. Just cook it like is says on the package. A few tips though are to add plenty of salt to the boiling water and use LOADS of water as it prevents it from all sticking together.

Serve with parmesan sprinkled on top, some nice rustic bread, a green salad, glass of wine, and a good movie (like the Godfather trilogy).

Price: 3/10 (good cheap food)
Difficulty: 2/10 (one of the first meals I learnt to cook)
Taste: 9/10 (simple flavours for simple people)

xy