Big Spaghetti Bolognese

Serves 8-10

• 900g minced beef
• 8 tablespoons tomato puree

  Tomato puree

  Concentrate made from paste type tomatoes that have high pectin content.

  When they’re cooked down, they’re put through a strainer to remove skins and seeds, and reduced further until almost all of the moisture has evaporated. Usually a recipe will call for a tablespoon or two, just enough to enrich a beef stew, for instance, or to deepen the flavour of a sauce made with fresh tomatoes.

• 2 teaspoons dried mixed herbs

  Herbs

  Ideal for seasoning pastas.

  To keep cut parsley or coriander, put in a hole free polythene bag with a couple of tablespoons of cold water, give the bag a good shake and keep in the salad drawer of the fridge. Herbs should keep for a week like this.

  or a sprig of fresh thyme or rosemary
• 3 onions, peeled and finely chopped
• 4 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
• 1.2 litres of water or homemade stock

  Stocks

  Made from your meat and fish bones.

  Frozen in ice cubes for gravies, risotto and cooking rice. Once frozen, remove from the ice trays and pack into freezer bags. Use stock powder or cubes if you do not have any home made available.

• 3 red peppers, cored and finely chopped
• 350g button mushrooms sliced
• 300g spaghetti

  Pasta

  Available in various shapes and sizes.

  • Short tubular pasta (rigatoni, penne, macaroni) is best used in baked dishes with vegetables, cheese and meat.
  • Smooth long pasta (spaghetti, linguine) is best with sauces like Bolognese, tomato and clams as these keep the pasta slippery and separate.
  • Cup-shaped pasta (conchiglie, orichette) is designed to hold sauces with larger ingredients such as mushrooms, artichokes and tomatoes.
  • Cut pasta (tagliatelle, fettuccine, farfalle) is best eaten with rich sauce made with cream, eggs or meat.
  • Twisted pasta (fusilli, eliche, fettuccines, farfalle) the curly character of these pastas means that they will trap thin sauces such as pesto, garlic, and olive oil flavoured with chilli.
  • Tiny pasta shapes (alphabet letters, fillini, vermicelli) cook quickly and are ideal for adding to soups and casseroles.
  • Ravioli is stuffed pasta and can vary from cheese, vegetables and meat.
  • Lasagne sheets and cannelloni are good pastas used in a baked layered meat or vegetables dishes.
• Leftover hard cheese

  Cheese

  Add to eggs for omelettes, grate onto soups or salads.

  • Parmesan often goes rock hard or becomes horribly sweaty. Ideally, all cheese should be stored in a cool, airy place at a temperature of 46-50F/8-10C. However, most of us put it straight into the fridge. This is fine providing the cheese is kept loosely wrapped in its own airtight container so it isn’t tainted by other foods.
  • Store it in the salad drawer, which is not quite as cold as the rest of the fridge and use a micro plane for grating.