We’re back with another recipe from our student recipe blog series to showcase a range of good quality, reasonably priced and easy to make student meals that anyone can try their hand at. Spaghetti Bolognaise is such a versatile recipe which can be adapted in so many ways to create other dishes (which we’ll explain at the end of this blog). So if you’re looking for healthy, easy to prepare and reasonably priced meals to make for yourself or your friends, follow our student recipe series and get cooking with IHS!

Serves: 4 to 6
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: around 40 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 large onion or 2 medium onions chopped (brunoise style if you’re a culinary arts student and you know how to do it)
• 30 ml oil for sautéing
• 500 grams of raw minced beef
• 2 rashers of raw bacon, chopped into small bits (about the size of a 20 cent piece)
• 1 carrot peeled and grated
• 1 celery stalk washed and chopped finely
• Half a teaspoon of crushed garlic (or use 2 fresh garlic cloves crushed if you can)
• 1 can of peeled and chopped tomatoes (there’s no shame in using canned goods)
• 1 tsp dried oregano or mixed herbs
• 450 grams of uncooked spaghetti
• Cheese to grate over the top (We think parmesan cheese would be best for this dish)
• Optional: a cup of beef stock – to add a little extra flavour, or ‘vooma’ as well call it

Method:

1. In a large pot, heat the oil over a medium heat and sauté the onions until soft.
2. Add the bacon and mince to the onion mixture and brown the meat.
3. Add your carrots, celery and garlic to the mix and cook for a further 5-7 minutes.
4. Add the herbs, canned tomatoes and seasoning and cook for 30 to 40 minutes, stirring from time to time.
5. Add beef stock towards the last 10 minutes, to make the sauce more juicy and beefy – (only if you want to, it tastes super either way)
6. Boil your pasta as per the instructions on the packaging.
7. Serve your pasta on a plate or in a bowl, add the Bolognaise sauce on top and then grate some cheese over the sauce. Add garlic bread and vino to complete a tasty dinner with friends.

Top tips:

The mince mixture is a lovely base for all sorts of meals. It’s tasty and suitable for freezing – so we recommend that you double the quantities, cook up a huge double batch and freeze half. You can use the sauce for all sorts of dishes such as:

• Cottage Pie
• Lasagne
• Sauce for jacket potatoes
• Savoury mince with rice
• Filled pancakes / crepes
• Make a pie with the filling
• Stuff a baked pepper
• Make some Chilli con carne
• A toasted sarnie filling

The list goes on and on. This is undoubtedly a healthy meal option that is reasonably priced, can go quite far and can make a number of easy to prepare meals from a basic sauce recipe. Happy cooking, and drop us a line if you have any recipe suggestions – we would love to hear from you!

Image credit:

• www.shutterstock.com