Spaghetti Bolognese–Smith’s Style

Spaghetti Bolognese is almost as critical to Luke’s survival as say air and water. Without fail whenever I ask him what he would like for dinner, the response is “sketti”. The fact that we had it 2 days ago is irrelevant, he would quite happily eat it 7 nights a week, but in the interest of keeping some variety and curbing our pasta consumption I try to make it only once a fortnight.

This recipe is based vaguely on my mum’s with a few small changes. It is not a Bolognese in the true sense because it has a whole lot of vegetables hidden in it to bulk it out and of course up the nutritional value. Like all of my recipes, this will make a lot of Bolognese, I usually make Cottage Pie with it the following night and freeze some so I always have a batch on hand. I prefer not to add any cheese, but Luke more than makes up for it by sprinkling his with half a block of tasty.

Ingredients
1kg beef mince (preferably heart smart)
1 onion finely chopped
1 carrot peeled and grated
1 zucchini finely chopped
50g mushrooms finely chopped
1 x 800g tin of diced tomatoes
1 x 500ml jar of pasta sauce
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon tomato paste
2 tablespoons mixed dried Italian herbs
2-3 “taps” of cinnamon
3 dried bay leaves (because if I always put in 3, I always remember to take out 3)
A good slurp of quality red wine (optional but recommended)

Method
1. Brown mince in a large frying pan on high heat, breaking up with wooden spoon, drain fat from mince
2. Add herbs, cinnamon and garlic, stir through until the herbs have softened a little
3. Add onion, carrot, zucchini and mushrooms and allow to sweat

4. Add a good splash of red wine and stir through until it has reduced slightly
5. Add tinned tomatoes and pasta sauce, stir until mixture is well combined
6. Reduce heat to simmer and add bay leaves, simmer uncovered for 20 minutes stirring occasionally
7. Remove bay leaves
8. Serve with your choice of pasta and a good glass of red wine