The best spaghetti Bolognese recipe

A top tip given by a M starred chef is to brown your mince in the oven in a baking tray at the start of your cooking. This allows you get on with the rest of your preparation, and also stops the mince from becoming stewed in the juices. It works - I use this method in all my mince dishes to get that nutty browned taste.

Great recipe, my fave that I've tried. Agree with frandmckay (below) that garlic should be added just 2-3 minutes before the mince. I'd also suggest using a blender to chop everything else in one go, making things easier/quicker (and giving very fine pieces, which seems to make the sauce thicker). Tossing the carrots, celery and onion all in there while the bacon fried, then doing the same with the basil and chilli, made it less laborious.

To the poster saying this was incredibly bland... as with any recipie use some common sense. The recipie fails to call for salt and pepper, likely accidentally omitted due to the fact that adding salt and pepper to taste is usually something that anyone with any sense at all just does naturally when cooking anything anyhow. If you followed this to the letter then it would be very bland. Also if it's too watery you can tell that before you taste it even, so simply leave off the lid, turn up the heat and let it cook down. The same goes for the thug about it being bland. You didn't taste it before you were done cooking it? That's your problem right there, as no sauce calling for this many seasonings could ever be bland.

I love this recipe for the mix of ingredients - I've used it a few times now. The taste is great! The method is poorly written in my opinion though - like someone tried to pack it down into too few steps. I suggest a few refinements to really get the most out of your ingredients: Step 1: Don't add the garlic until the rest of the veg is nearly done. Garlic burns very easily - it only needs 2-3 minutes to release the flavours before you add the mince. Add some salt & pepper here, but don't go crazy if your bacon is salty. Step 2: After the meat is browned, add the tomato paste and TWICE the amount of wine. Let it cook, stirring, until the alcohol cooks off and it reduces down to what would have been the amount of wine called for. This way you get the flavour in your sauce without the 'wine-y' alcohol effect - save that for the glass alongside! Keep tasting as you go - I can't believe this recipe doesn't call for salt and pepper! Don't be afraid to add it - tomatoes take salt like sponges. If your sauce gets thick before the time is up, add some stock and keep going. The cook time is about more than thickening the sauce - its about cooking off the acid from the tomato and letting the flavours of everything meld. Better to add liquid and let it keep cooking than to cut it off too soon. I hope this helps someone make a killer sauce - this is a GREAT simple recipe. Just needs a little technique to make it brill!

I used a food processor to do all of the chopping, threw everything together and I think this radically reduced the prep time. Also add Worcester and soy sauce.

Add 3-4tbsp of ketchup, 2tbsp of good quality balsamic vinegar, 2tbsp more of tomato puree, and another good glug of red wine. This adds richness to the end product. I also added a tin of chopped mushrooms about 5 minutes before serving (drain before adding).

Delicious Spagetti Bolognese dish and a real crowd pleaser. Effort: more a w/ender or day off dish. Takes a little more time to prepare the veggies, cutting in small pieces and re-referring back to ingredients/method. Additional: I added Worcestershire Sauce (a good splosh), a teaspoon of marmite and 1/2 teaspoon of English mustard and 1 chunk of dark chocolate. Added different veggies I.e peppers. * Phillipa28 great tip: I put dish in the oven on Gas Mark 4 covered for 1 1/2 hours, really worked. Thanks for tip. :0)

I am not sure it's worth buying fresh rosemary just for 2 stems so I used dried.turned out fine! I didn't use celery as my wife does not like it, however I added mushrooms.