Spaghetti Bolognese

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp olive oil — staple
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 750g beef mince
• 125ml dry red wine (or water/beef stock)
• 2 beef stock cubes, crumbled — staple
• 800g can crushed tomatoes
• 2 Tbsp tomato paste
• 2 tsp brown sugar (if needed) — staple
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 dried bay leaves — staple
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme (or oregano) — staple
• 1 tsp salt — staple
• 1/2 tsp black pepper — staple
• 400g dried spaghetti
• Grated parmesan, to serve
• parsley to serve — optional garnish, skip
• (veg side) 1 head cos lettuce, washed and torn
• (veg side) 1 cucumber, sliced
• (veg side) 3 tomatoes, cut into wedges
• (veg side) 2 carrots, grated
• (veg side) dressing: 2 Tbsp olive oil + 1 Tbsp vinegar or lemon juice — staple

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high. Cook the onion and garlic 3 minutes until softened and lightly golden.
2. Turn the heat to high, add the mince and cook, breaking it up, until browned.
3. Add the red wine, bring to a simmer and cook 1-2 minutes, scraping the base of the pot, until the alcohol smell is gone.
4. Add the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, stock cubes, Worcestershire, bay leaves, thyme, sugar, salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer, then drop to medium so it bubbles gently.
5. Cook uncovered 25-35 minutes, stirring occasionally, adding water if it gets too thick. (Better still: add 200ml water, lid on, simmer very low for 2-2.5 hours, then uncover and simmer 20 minutes to thicken.)
6. Boil the spaghetti in well-salted water for packet time minus 1 minute. Reserve a mug of pasta water, then drain.
7. Add the pasta to the sauce with about 125ml pasta water over medium heat. Toss 1.5-2 minutes until the spaghetti turns red and the sauce clings.
8. Side salad: while the spaghetti boils, toss the torn cos, cucumber, tomato wedges and grated carrot in your biggest bowl with the oil and vinegar; season.
9. Divide the pasta between bowls, top with parmesan, and put the salad on the table.

Notes

- Protein-first portioning: meat set to 750g per 5 serves to land ~44g protein/serve (house rule). - Only a 25% lift is needed because 400g of dried spaghetti carries ~10g protein per serve. Everything else stays at source quantities: no added passata, 2 Tbsp tomato paste, 2 stock cubes, 125ml wine, 2 tsp Worcestershire and 400g spaghetti. - Kept at 5 serves per the source (family one-pot). - Half pork, half beef mince makes a richer sauce if you can get pork mince. - Sauce freezes well — make the full batch and freeze half before adding pasta. - Veg/staples sweep: the sauce carried one onion and a can of tomatoes, so the house side salad (cos, cucumber, tomato, grated carrot, oil + vinegar) was added as its own step — about +50 cal / +2g protein and ~150g veg per serve. Fresh thyme became 1/2 tsp dried and the parsley garnish was dropped; garlic, onion, canned tomatoes, tomato paste, Worcestershire and spaghetti lost their "staple" markers, and the white sugar became brown sugar from the cupboard.