Lets be frank, every mum has a tried and tested recipe for Spaghetti Bolognese. It’s the one food other than pizza, chicken nuggets, or sausages and chips that you can be pretty sure any play date will eat. Not only that, it is a family dinner staple. Everyone loves it (even the leading man), you can cook it in advance, for as many hours as you like, on the hob, in the oven, in enormous batches and it still tastes marvellous. It freezes like a charm and can be reincarnated as lasagne the following week with no hassle and to satisfaction all round. What’s not too like?

In case there is anyone out there without a fail safe bolognese recipe in their locker, please find mine shared below.

Serves 4 adults and 2 small children.

Ingredients

• 500g spaghetti
• 500g beef mince
• 150g of bacon lardons or a couple of finely chopped slices of smoked or unsmoked bacon
• 2 large carrots, finely chopped
• 2.5 medium onions, finely chopped
• 2 sticks of celery, finely chopped
• 4 average cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
• 1 large courgette finely chopped
• 2 tins of chopped tomatoes
• 1 tbls tomato puree
• 2 dried bay leaves
• 2 tsp of dried oregano
• 1 tbls of worcestershire sauce
• 150 ml of red wine
• 1 tbls olive
• Grated parmesan or cheddar to serve.

Instructions

1. Heat olive oil in large saucepan, over medium heat and add bacon bits and fry until starting to crisp.
2. Add carrots, celery and onions to pan and continue to cook over low heat until lovely and soft, adding a splash of water to the pan if they start to catch. This should take about 15 minutes.
3. Increase heat again and add mince to the pan, stirring to break lumps and cook until it is all nicely brown.
4. Add the crushed garlic to the pan and cook for three minutes, stirring continuously.
5. Finally, pour in the tinned tomatoes, wine, tomato puree and worcestershire sauce. Swill out tomato tins with half a tin of water and sling that in and then throw in the herbs and courgettes and give a jolly thorough stir.
6. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook over low heat for at least and hour or a couple if you have the time, stirring occasionally. If cooking for hours do keep an eye on it, and it looks a little dry, add another half tin of water.
7. If you want to cook it for more than a couple of hours, or bob out and take the kids to ballet, football while it cooks away, I would suggest cooking in the oven rather than the hob. So once you get to point 6, and it is simmering on the hob, I would add another half tin of water to keep it moist, cover it with a tight fitting lid and transfer to a pre-heated oven at around 150 degrees centigrade (130 fan). Again, if you are going to cook it for more than 2.5 hours (and the longer you cook it the more great it will taste) you would be best to take a gander every now and then, give a cursory stir and add more water / wine if required.
8. In your own time, when you are ready to eat, cook the spaghetti to the pack instructions and serve!