Spaghetti Bolognese from Bologna?
This is a traditional spaghetti Bolognese recipe. Where does spaghetti bolognese come from?
Well apparently, the well known Spaghetti Bolognese recipe does not come from Bologna.
Somehow along the fantastic food evolution process, a well-known meal name has been created with little or no link to the place it is meant to come from.
This easy Spaghetti Bolognese recipe makes use of that little-known fact!
However, I am not going to tell you here what I think happened – just follow this link ‘Spaghetti Bolognese’ and you will see what I mean.
Italy – the home of beautiful things
Despite the dubious origins of spaghetti bolognese, Bologna is famous though for more than just this dish.
Italy is, of course, famous for their many beautiful things – their food, their women, their shoes, their clothes, their architecture, their art, and their cars.
Just think of the most beautiful supercars and the likelihood is they are built or designed by Italians.
But it is not those I am talking about……
Bologna is Ducati
Bologna is the home to the Ducati factory. Consequently, I had to feature this spaghetti recipe just so I could show you some pictures of some of my bikes 😊
My first Duke was a 1990 Paso 750, a beautiful bike – here she is. I had to buy her just because of the wonderful sound she made.
I traded her in for a 1998 Ducati 916, in 2016. Many call the 916 the most beautiful motorcycle ever built.
She was certainly the craziest bike I have ever ridden and she sounded even better than the Paso. She now belongs to my good friend Ian.
We had to sell her, unfortunately, because we were moving house, country and lifestyle. I miss her. The bike, that is, not the lifestyle!
Back to the best Spaghetti Bolognese recipe…
Anyhow, I digress – now back to this Bolognese dish. This is a family favourite, and everyone enjoys it (even the onions do not get fished out in this one). You can see that we love Italian food with my collection of pasta dishes.
This one, in particular, is a very simple one, with the huge advantage that anything you do not eat can be easily frozen.
Then for the busy working people among you, a nice tasty meal can be prepared in the time it takes you to cook some spaghetti.
So yet another potentially perfect meal prep recipe (there will often be some of this frozen in our fridge).
The trick is to get the taste you want in the Bolognese sauce. You may wish to vary the herbs you use to get the taste as you like it.
For the pasta, I use normal dried spaghetti, but really I suppose you can eat this with any type of pasta, long or short, dried or fresh.
Either way, I suppose you still have a pasta Bolognese. Really this is just an easy Bolognese sauce recipe for a Bolognese meat sauce that you can serve up in many different ways.
There are so many spaghetti sauces out there, but this is just a simple beef Bolognese sauce, which may also be known as a beef ragu recipe, or spaghetti ragu.
You will find it is very similar to the ragu in my lasagna bolognese recipe.
Whatever you want to call it, to us it is simply known as ‘spag bol’.
How to Serve Italian Spaghetti
Please note that these pictures above show how NOT to serve up spaghetti bolognese! This is how we tend to do it in the British Isles, with the sauce on top.
Real Italians would mix the sauce into the spaghetti in the pan before serving. Like this:
You may notice that this photo does not show the tomatoes as much. The recipe is the same, but I zapped the tomatoes in my Nutribullet beforehand, as my wife decided that she did not like bits of tomato in her food. It actually worked very well and gave a smoother sauce. I will do this again in the future.
Do not forget to sprinkle with parmesan before serving up!
I mention this just to warn you in case you have Italian guests!
Please let me know how you get on below in the comments section!
How to make Easy Spaghetti Bolognese
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Spaghetti Bolognese
This delicious and easy spaghetti bolognese recipe is quick to prepare and will fully satisfy all the meat and pasta eaters out there.
Ingredients
- 600g minced beef
- 300 g Spaghetti (or other dried pasta)
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- Olive oil
- 1 Tin of chopped Italian tomatoes
- 200g tomato passata
- 2 tsp Tomato puree
- 1 cup beef stock
- 4 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tbsp Heinz tomato Ketchup
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- ½ tsp mixed herbs
- Grated Parmesan
Instructions
- I always make this is in my wok so I do not spill it on the hob.
- Fry the onion in the wok until soft then remove from the pan. Then use the same wok to fry the mince and garlic until fully browned. When the meat is completely brown, pour any excess fat from the pan.
- Then add the tomatoes and stock and bring to the boil. Add the onions back into the wok and simmer.
- Then add the puree, Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, thyme and mixed herbs. Keep simmering and stir regularly keeping an eye on the thickness of the sauce. If it gets too thick then just add more water.
- Keep cooking on a low heat for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Meanwhile bring a pan of water to the boil. I add a dash of olive oil to the pan before I add the spaghetti. Then break the spaghetti in half before adding to the boiling water in the pan. This makes it easier to manage when it is cooked and on the plate.
- Boil the spaghetti for exactly 10 minutes and then remove to a colander and drain. Add a splash of olive oil on the spaghetti when it is draining.
Notes
Serving
UK style:
Serve up in a bowl with spaghetti covered in meat sauce and grated parmesan on the top.
Italian style:
Pour the spaghetti back into the wok and mix with the sauce before serving. Don't forget the parmesan!
If you want to have a smoother sauce then zap the chopped tomatoes in a blender before adding to the pan.
It is also good with tomato ketchup if you are a ketchup fan!
This sauce will freeze well and just needs reheating in a microwave. It is great for a proper meal in the week when all you need to do is prepare some spaghetti.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 608Total Fat: 31gSaturated Fat: 11gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 16gCholesterol: 135mgSodium: 406mgCarbohydrates: 34gFiber: 2gSugar: 7gProtein: 47g
This nutrition information was automatically calculated by Nutritionix, but may not be 100% accurate.