The dish I achieved this with was the Italian classic, spaghetti Bolognese! At the time it was something different, exotic and everyone (I mean everyone) couldn’t get enough of it.

The first time I tried this it was cooked by my mother, a very English version it was too. Spaghetti was never “al dente” and the sauce was never the deep, dark, rich red I knew it should have been. I knew this as my best friend’s parents would visit Italy each year, and Bolognese became his father’s signature dish. I remember the impossible amount of time he would spend getting his sauce just right. Back then everyone seemed to have their own version, so taking tips from both based on look, taste and cooking style, it was time for me to put down childish things and get myself into the kitchen.

I remember fondly how well my version was enjoyed by anyone who ate it.

A couple of nights ago I decided to relive my childhood and make spaghetti Bolognese as I used to make it “back in the day”. It was not difficult to remember as it is so simple to prepare, yet absolutely delicious to eat…

It’s time to take a trip back to the 80’s!

Ingredients

• 500g Minced beef
• 8 White mushrooms
• 1 Medium Onion
• 1 Small carrot
• 1 or ½ Stick of celery (to match size of carrot)
• 1 or 2 Cloves of garlic
• 1 Level tsp salt
• 1 Level tsp dried basil
• 1 400g Tin chopped tomatoes
• 3-4 Tbsp Olive Oil
• A few good twists of pepper (8 should do it)

Serves 4

Doesn’t look like much so far right? Well like most things in life it’s not what you’ve got, it’s what you do with it that counts.

Dice the onion, carrot and celery as small as you can. I mean small…use a chopping machine if you have one because hand chopping will take time.

Time is what is going to make this dish

Now add the olive oil to a frying pan and the diced vegetables and cook on a very low heat. It takes around 20 minutes for the veggies to shrink in the pan, when they look like they have halved in quantity, add the crushed garlic and stir in on the heat for about 2 minutes.

Remove from heat.

Take a good solid heavy bottomed saucepan on a medium heat and add the minced beef. Nothing else, no oil, nothing. The fat in the minced beef should be enough. I used mince with about 20% fat, if using a much lower fat content add a splash of olive oil. Now mix that beef round and round the second it goes in, pressing it against the side of the pan with a spoon. You want to smash it into tiny pieces so keep stirring. When the beef has changed colour and has a “grainy” look to it, add the veggies and garlic.

Immediately get the heat as low as your hob can possibly go and add the tin of tomatoes, salt, dried basil and pepper. You see those chunks of chopped tomato? Smash them up roughly. Add water into the empty tomato can 1/3 of the way up, then rinse round and pour it all into the sauce. Give the sauce a good stir.

We will now cook this for about 1 hour 30 minutes….maybe more depending how low your hob can go.

Around 40 minutes into cooking clean the mushrooms then chop them in half or quarters depending on size. Add them to the pot and stir in. The mushrooms will add their liquor, enriching the sauce further without them becoming “over stewed”.

About 5 or 6 times during cooking give it a good stir, smashing any chunks of tomatoes you may have missed and of course scrapping any tomato “crust” from the side of the pan back in to the sauce.

The sauce is ready when it’s reduced enough to still pour of the spoon willingly, but there is no “watery” tomato juice left. Now is the time to taste and add extra seasoning if you feel it’s required.

Serve with spaghetti, and for that authentic 80’s flavour grate some cheddar cheese on top, or even better than that use pre-grated parmesan in a tub (see main pic!). We didn’t have the luxury of the real thing back then!

Sounds almost too simple?

Why don’t you try this out on your family or friends tonight and tell me what they thought

Author information

The Food Curator

The Food Curator (AKA Michael Robinson) is an aficionado of all things food and bon viveur based in London. A passion for cooking and dining has driven him to put fingers to keyboard to bring you his thoughts on the world of food. When not writing, eating or cooking he has a love of American muscle cars. Pop on over to my Facebook page and let's start a Facebook food revolution together: http://tinyurl.com/thefoodcurator

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