Friends coming for dinner

[pinkiefriend]

Good morning everyone. Can you help? I have friends coming for dinner tonight and I am planning cooking Spaghetti Bolognaise, not very original I know but I wanted to make it more special that you're Bog standard Spaghetti Bolognaise! Does anyone have any "special" recipe that they would like to share with me? Are there any condiments that I can put out to have along with it? Thank you in advance! xx

[heathfield]

It may sound awful, but add a tablespoon of Daddies or HP brown sauce as you simmer the bolognaise. The vinegaryness will disappear completely in a few minutes, and the remaining ingredients will add a lovely richness to the sauce.
Recommend it when cooking any mince or stew dishes.

[pinkiefriend]

Thanks for that tip heathfield. Will give that a bash! x

[DaisyD]

i always put in a splash of red wine, and some oregano, when cooking the mince. Also, its nice if you cook the onions with some smoked bacon before adding mince.
Serve with fresh parmesan.

[Champagne]

Heathfield tip is a good one. You can use a dash of red or brown sauce as the sweetness counteracts the sharpness of the garlic and herbs. Also try any of the following:-

- as Daisy says, always cook the onions first, then add the mince to them so that the onion flavour permeates into the meat, THEN add the garlic, THEN add a small tin of tomato paste
- add about a glass of red wine
- use no more than 1 or 2 cloves of fresh garlic
- use fresh herbs (or at least fresh basil and dried mixed herbs will do)
- don't use salt (it's simply not required)
- serve freshly (finely) grated parmesan in a small bowl and let people help themselves
- add olive oil to the water when cooking the spaghetti. Don't overcook it either, keep it 'al dente'.

[whiffey]

Spaghetti Bolognaise
This one is supreme, though I say it myself.

2 large Spanish onions
1 kg leanest steak mince
1 bottle Italian or Spanish red wine, cheapo will do
1 jar tomato puree
2 tins chopped tomatoes
12 medium mushrooms
Basil
Oregano
Onion and Garlic salts
Black Pepper
Cayenne pepper
Paprika
Ground cinnamon
Ground cloves
Chopped garlic (from a jar - lazy! - I use English Provender Lazy Garlic)

I use a huge saucepan for this, it will make about 5 very large servings.

Finely chop the onions and brown in sunflower oil with 2 teaspoons (or more) of garlic and an arbitrary amount of red wine. Add the mince gradually and cook through. Continue to add red wine. Add the tomato puree and the chopped tomatoes. Rinse the jar and tins with red wine. Stir throughout, make sure all LUMPS of mince are broken up. Lumps in bolognaise are a big no-no.

Add liberal quantities of basil and oregano, loads of black pepper, onion and garlic salt to taste, more and more red wine. About a half teaspoon each of cinnamon and cloves (these are the key secret, but be prepared for vivid dreams). Paprika, cayenne pepper, a shake here and there. Fundamentally I add most of the stuff on my spice rack.

Leave this to bubble away, it will be quite liquid not least because of the whole bottle of red wine.

Finely chop the mushrooms, not big slices, but thin sliced then cross-chopped into pieces about 1/4 inch square. Stir in and after 10 minutes it's done. The flavour improves after freezing.

[McNoodle]

Use fresh taglietelli, not boring spaghetti - big bag �1.28 ASDA.
Add some sun-dried tomatoes when simmering.
Dash of Worcester sauce towards end.
Add some good olive oil - it helps bind to the taglietelli.
Garnish with fresh basil leaves and parmesan shavings - not the stuff that's like sawdust.
Warm, ripped, not sliced crusty bread...

[Hammer Head]

It's called Spaghetti Bolognese not Bolognaise. It's Italian not French.

[janetsflower]

Use red wine, fresh parmesan shavings (rather than grated) and torn basil leaves to garnish. Fresh pasta rather than dried . And if you want to call it bolognaise rather than bolognese then thats just fine

[naz_nomad]

How about some Fava beans, and a nice Chianti?

[loopy lass]

I saw a celebrity chef programme recently and they suggested a spoon of coffee granules to enhance the flavour. Apparently you don't taste the coffee but you do get a richer, darker , thicker mince. not sure how big the spoon was though.

[maimai]

Most (if not all) chefs would say stick with dried pasta rather than bought fresh (unless you have time, patience, knowledge and equipment to make your own pasta!). I would agree. Bit other wise I agree with wine/worcester sauce/shaved parmesan. The joy of spag bol is it's almost always slightly different/bettr each time.