making bolognaise sauce from scratch

HappyLottie

Hi
I wondered whether someone could help me. I want a recipe for a nice but cheap bolognaise sauce for batch cooking. There are 2 adults but usually I tend to make enough for a few meals and freeze the extra portions.

Willing to buy other ingredients but the things I currently have in are:
500g mince (when I make Chilli I tend to stretch this to make enough for 6-8 people)
Tins of chopped tomatoes, sweetcorn, beans etc
Passata
Tomato puree
2 Peppers, Onions and other bits of veg (but willing to buy more to pad it out)
Lots of herbs and spices

In the past I have used value types of tomato sauces but not keen on the taste/ consitency of them (tend to be bland) so thought of using passata/ tins of chopped tomatoes.
Oh and don't like mushrooms

Thanks in advance

Lottie x

Dizzyduck

Hi
I use my slow cooker for bolognase and to pad it out I sometimes use courgettes or a couple blocks of frozen spinach. Red lentils are also worth getting as a little goes along way.
To pep up the taste I have a tube of pesto that seems to help!

signs_of_recovery

HappyLottie wrote: »

Hi
I wondered whether someone could help me. I want a recipe for a nice but cheap bolognaise sauce for batch cooking.

Hi HappyLottie,
I usually make Bolognaise sauce in my slow cooker as I find that it gives a far richer flavour when it's cooked at a low tempreture. You could cook it in the oven on a low gas I suppose, for the same effect.
My basic recipie is as follows:
Finely chop up 3 ribs of celery, 3 onions and 3 carrots and a couple of cloves of garlic and cook in oil until soft. (Your're trying to achieve a little bit of caramalisation here, but not too much)
Turn the heat up and brown off your mince.
I then add about a quarter bottle of red wine, and cook that at a high heat until it's absorbed.
Then I add about a teacup of milk and wait until that is absorbed. (The milk stops the mince tasting grainy)
I add 2-3 tablespoons of tomato puree, then dump it all in the slow cooker with 2/3 or 4 tins of tomatos depending on the amount of bolognaise I'm making.
For 500g mince, I'd probably use 3 tins. (I use value, but I find Morrison's Value are quite tasty) I add about a teaspoon of parsley, oregano and a bit of rosemary. Also a bayleaf. Salt and pepper to taste. I leave it in the slow cooker all night. Sometimes I add a handful of any type of lentils for bulk/texture.
I leave it in all night in the slow cooker, but if I was doing it in the oven, I wouldn't cook it for any less than 3 hours.
Personally, I think adding peppers is gilding the lily, and I would be more tempted to roast your peppers and serve them with another meal, say roast pepper and tomato pasta, rather than using them in a Bolognaise which tastes quite rich anyway without adding peppers, but that's just my preference.
I find the above recipie can be doubled up tripled up etc or even scaled down as long as you keep your proportions balanced, or balance them to your own tastes.
Hope this makes sense. This will definitely feed at least 6 people at these proportions.

cardiogirl

My bolognaise is similar to those above, but I also add some diced potato with the onions & carrots - it's delicious.

Ladygrim

HappyLottie wrote: »

In the past I have used value types of tomato sauces but not keen on the taste/ consitency of them (tend to be bland) so thought of using passata/ tins of chopped tomatoes.


Lottie x

Hi Lottie,

I find the tins of Napolina plum and chopped tomatoes are the best. Sometimes its even on special offer. So if you see any, grab them cause they really do add to bolognais/chilli

HTH

Ladygrim

Ladyhawk

Mine is really whatever I have in the fridge so is always slightly different...

onion
celery
peppers
garlic
mushrooms
carrots
Courgettes

Fry off any/ all of the above and reserve in a bowl

Brown off the mince and add the veg back

Add a tin of chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, dried herds, salt & pepper and beef stock (I usually make it in the tin from the chopped toms to ensure that I get all the sauce out). Thow in any squishy tomatoes or other veg that has been lurking.

Simmer for 45+ minutes

seraphina

Ladygrim wrote: »

Hi Lottie,

I find the tins of Napolina plum and chopped tomatoes are the best. Sometimes its even on special offer. So if you see any, grab them cause they really do add to bolognais/chilli

HTH

Ladygrim

I agree, the Napolina tinned toms are the best - Tesco frequently have the 4 packs on half price offers so I stock up then.

smartie12

I always add a blob of ketchup after I've added all the ingredients together;)

misskool

I always add about a teaspoon of sugar to every tin of tomatoes to bring out the tomato-ey taste

Sometimes a drop of red wine, sometimes balsamic vinegar (whichever catches my eye first)

Bolognaise is much tastier if you have half beef mince and half pork (or veal) mince. Proper bolognaise has no onions (just garlic) and no other vegetables (but that wouldn't be OS).

I use onions, garlic, celery (or celery salt) and whatever vegetables are lurking (have been known to have parsnips and sprouts in there, but they aren't the best....)

hotcookie101

misskool wrote: »

I always add about a teaspoon of sugar to every tin of tomatoes to bring out the tomato-ey taste

Sometimes a drop of red wine, sometimes balsamic vinegar (whichever catches my eye first)

Bolognaise is much tastier if you have half beef mince and half pork (or veal) mince. Proper bolognaise has no onions (just garlic) and no other vegetables (but that wouldn't be OS).

I use onions, garlic, celery (or celery salt) and whatever vegetables are lurking (have been known to have parsnips and sprouts in there, but they aren't the best....)

I agree-always add a little sugar when using tinned tomatoes-its amazing the difference it makes, when you taste before and after adding it.

I usually use a sofrito of carrot celery garlic and onions, then mince (tends to be beef only as find it hard to get free range pork mince) 500g mince-3 tins plum tomatoes (not chopped, I use napolina, bought when on offer, approaching only 16 tins in the cupboard now, starting to worry!)
Sometimes add leeks but the flavour is quite strong. Sprouts would not get a look in I have to say :rotfl:
Red or white wine-a large glass nearly always gets added. A splash of red wine vinegar can bring out the flavour too. I cook on the hob on a very low simmer for a good couple of hours. Dried oregano near the start or better-lots of fresh basil right at the end...

I sometimes add a SMALL handful of red lentils, but thats as much as padding goes (and to be honest its more to get some fibre and pulses into OH than a getting as many portions as possible from the pack of mince)
I would usually get 3-4 double portions of bolognaise from these amounts, and we have WAY too much sauce on our pasta (really, for 2 people should only be a max of 3-400mls sauce, but I reckon we are closer to 600 )