Home-made pasta/bolognese sauce recipe

G-Money

I'm looking for a nice healthy low cholesterol home-made pasta/bolognese once. I tried before to make a bolognese sauce with passata and basil (the basil in a jar) and possibly some garlic pepper and it came out pretty horrible. It was super bland and had no flavour.

Can someone suggest me a super healthy bolognese and pasta sauce I can make myself? Want to avoid buying the Dolmio stuff, even though I think it's very nice.

I'd even be willing to add chilli's etc to spice it up from time to time.

Faith

There's an awful lot of recipes that have already been posted if you search for them. There's even a link in the FAQ at the top of the forum: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055274445

As long as you don't add much salt, then a bolognese sauce won't have much in the way of cholesterol anyway.

Alun

Faith wrote: »

As long as you don't add much salt, then a bolognese sauce won't have much in the way or cholesterol anyway.

Faith

Alun wrote: »

"Much in the way of cholesterol". Does it make sense now?

Alun

Faith wrote: »

"Much in the way of cholesterol". Does it make sense now?

Not really, it wasn't the spelling I was puzzled about. What does salt content have to do with cholesterol?

Ddad

One pack of lean smoked back rashers
one small glass of white wine
2 cloves of garlic
half a diced onion
25ml of olive oil
1 carton of passata
100ml water
pinch of fresh herbs or dried e.g. basil, thyme rosemary
1-2 tsp of honey.

Using a frying pan-Fry the slices of bacon in the oil with the onion. Once browned add the dried herbs and the garlic for a minute and then up the heat and add the wine. When the wine has all but evaporated add the passata and water and cook for 5-6 minutes on a medium heat. Add the honey to taste at the end with some black pepper and any fresh herbs you might have. No salt needed as there's enough in the rashers.

Dress the pasta with the sauce. Don't plonk it on top.

If made right this is enough sauce to dress penne for six. I also add another glug of good olive oil at the end to the pasta and sauce for flavour. Low sodium, fat and cholesterol per portion, For veggies ommit the meat and water and sub in two peppers.

Enjoy;)

Btw. Once you get the hang of the sauce recipe it takes about the same time to prepare and cook as your pasta. Dinner for all in under 15 minutes.

olaola

Dry fry lean mince (try to get it from your butcher!) in a non-stick pot over a lowish heat. When the mince is cooked, you can drain any of the juices that are liberated from the meat. Then add chopped onion and garlic. Cook with the lid on until they're soft. Then add tin tomatoes, some tomato puree and season. The longer you cook it the better! This is bascially it - you can add anything from here.
I usually add a bay leaf or two, parsely, smoked paprika, grated carrot, chilli and a small bit of sugar. And if I have any red wine open, I'll throw a glug in. If you want to reduce the fat content more, use turkey mince (or even Quorn, but I've never tried it myself).

lardossan

did this one a couple of times, delish...

Marcella Hazan's

Serves 4 to 6

1 tbsp vegetable oil

4 tbsp butter, divided

½ cup chopped onion

2/3 cup chopped celery

2/3 cup chopped carrot

¾lb ground beef chuck

Salt

Fresh ground black pepper

1 cup whole milk

Whole nutmeg

Cup dry white wine

1½ cups canned Italian plum tomatoes, torn into pieces, with juice

1¼-1½lbs pasta (preferably spaghetti), cooked and drained

Freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese at the table

Put oil, three tablespoons of butter and the chopped onion in a heavy 3.3-litre (6-pint) pot and turn heat to medium. Cook and stir onion until it has become translucent, then add chopped celery and carrot. Cook for about two minutes, stirring vegetables to coat well.

Add the ground beef, a large pinch of salt and a few grindings of pepper. Crumble meat with a fork, stir well and cook until beef has lost its raw, red colour.

Add milk and let simmer gently, stirring frequently, until it has bubbled away
completely. Add a tiny grating, about an eighth of a teaspoon, of fresh nutmeg and stir.

Add wine and let it simmer until it has evaporated. Add tomatoes and stir thoroughly to coat all ingredients well. When tomatoes begin to bubble, turn heat down so that sauce cooks at the laziest of simmers, with just an intermittent bubble breaking through the surface. Cook, uncovered, for three hours or more, stirring from time to time. While sauce is cooking, you are likely to find that it will begin to dry out and the fat will separate from the meat. To keep it from sticking, add half a cup of water as necessary. At the end of cooking, however, the water should be completely evaporated and the fat should separate from the sauce. Taste and correct for salt.

Add remaining tablespoon of butter to the hot pasta and toss with the sauce. Serve with freshly grated parmesan on the side.

• From Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan

Faith

Alun wrote: »

Not really, it wasn't the spelling I was puzzled about. What does salt content have to do with cholesterol?

Doesn't salt content affect cholesterol? I don't know, I have my final exam of my finals in less than 2 hours; I'm completely adled at the moment. Regardless, reduce salt to be healthy is usually a good rule.

Alun

Faith wrote: »

Doesn't salt content affect cholesterol? I don't know, I have my final exam of my finals in less than 2 hours; I'm completely adled at the moment. Regardless, reduce salt to be healthy is usually a good rule.

There is a link in as much as processed foods that are high in fat are also frequently high in salt as well, but that's as far as it goes as far as I know.

kylith

This is how I made some last week:

Oh gods, I have no sauce!
Tin of chopped tomatoes in pan, pan on.
Throw in a few herbs.
Ah, a few more than that.
Bit more.
Grand.
Couple of teaspoons sun-dried tomato paste.
Mix, mix, mix.
Cooking meatballs. Nom, nom, meatballs.
Jesus! I forgot about the sauce!
Feck, it's gone much too thick!
Panic!
Drop of water.
Bit more water.
Ummmm....
Feck it, it'll do.
Combine pasta, sauce and meatballs.
OH: "This sauce is fantastic. Did you make this?"
Me: "Yes, yes I did. Aren't I great?"

Darkginger

My favourite bolognese sauce recipe is from Delia Smith, of all people: http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/cuisine/european/italian/an-authentic-ragu-bolognese.html
I think it's the chicken livers and nutmeg that make it so great - I make huge batches of this at a time and freeze for future use.

the beer revolu

Alun wrote: »

There is a link in as much as processed foods that are high in fat are also frequently high in salt as well, but that's as far as it goes as far as I know.

Salt is bad if you suffer from high blood pressure.
High cholesterol can also cause one to have high blood pressure.
So if your cholesterol is high, it is best to avoid excess salt.
Salt however, contains no cholesterol or fat.

Mint Sauce

Heres mine from last night

Large onion
3 or 4 grated garlic cloves
2 grated carrots
finely choped green bell pepper
6 finely chopped button mushrooms

500gms Lean Mince Meat
3-4 bacon bacon rashers cut into strips

1 can tinned chopped tomatos

beef stock cube
tea spoon bisto (opitional)
tea spoon of dried chilli flakes
tea spoon of cajen
craked black pepper
tea spoon of dried basel
Table spoon tomato puree

Fry onions, garlic, and bacon in sauce pan, add the cajen and chilli flakes, once bacon starts to brown, add the carrots and peppers. When onions are translutent (or have sweated), put to one side.

In same pan brown the meat, add some cracked pepper at this point, mix back in the onions, garlic, bacon, carrots, and peppers once the meat has browned. Add tomato puree.

Empty in your tinned tomatos, in the bottom of tin break in your stock cube in a little boiling water, empty in to mix (this will aslo pick any remaining tomato juice from can). Add the mushrooms, for a more meaty taste the Bisto can be added at this point.

Add the basel and more cracked pepper to taste. Leave to simmer for about an hour stiring/mixing often to prevent sticking to bottom of pan.

This will give you about 4 servings.

G-Money

Those recipes sound nice, but I just need a recipe for the sauce. Someone posted earlier about a recipe that was just a tin of tomatoes, tomato puree and that was about it. That doesn't sound too bad, but I would probably need to add some spices to it or something. Perhaps some garlic and onion too.

Defo want to avoid excess salt and fat.

Little Acorn

Alun wrote: »

Not really, it wasn't the spelling I was puzzled about. What does salt content have to do with cholesterol?

Salt doesn't contain cholesterol, but it does narrow arteries causing high blood pressure.
Having too high amounts of bad [LDL]cholesterol can make it harden and stick to the walls of arteries making them narrower.
So if you were already suffering from high cholesterol,[or for everyone really] it would be best to avoid high salt foods, as it could make your arteries even narrower, on top of what damage the high cholesterol has already caused.
They both eventually can lead to narrowing of the arteries, so that's what I think the link is.
But you are right in that salt doesn't actually cause the cholesterol, it just might cause some similar effects.

huskerdu

G-Money wrote: »

Those recipes sound nice, but I just need a recipe for the sauce. Someone posted earlier about a recipe that was just a tin of tomatoes, tomato puree and that was about it. That doesn't sound too bad, but I would probably need to add some spices to it or something. Perhaps some garlic and onion too.

Defo want to avoid excess salt and fat.

Fry some chopped onions in a small amount of olive oil until soft.Add some crushed garlic and fry for a minute or two.
Add a few cans of tomatoes and a squirt of tomato puree.
Add pepper / bay leaf /

Add worchestershire sauce or fresh thyme or oregano or a pinch of chilli.

Simmer slowly with the lid on for an hour if possible, stirring every so often. The tomatoes will break up once they are cooked, or you can mash them a bit with a wooden spoon.

If you want to add mince, do so after the onions and garlic.
Or add some chopped up rashers.

Its the easiest cheapest healthy sauce you can make and it tastes fab.
You can try different combinations of herbs and flavourings.

This sauce freezes really well and its just as easy to make loads.
Use old plastic chinese takeaway cartons to freeze it in.

kylith

G-Money wrote: »

Those recipes sound nice, but I just need a recipe for the sauce. Someone posted earlier about a recipe that was just a tin of tomatoes, tomato puree and that was about it. That doesn't sound too bad, but I would probably need to add some spices to it or something. Perhaps some garlic and onion too.

Defo want to avoid excess salt and fat.

It really is very easy and you can throw in any extras you want. I forgot to say that I threw in some soy sauce and some worchestershire sauce too. The only thing to remember is to keep an eye on it so that it doesn't get too thick.

Another easy one is to halve some cherry tomatoes and just cook them in a frying pan until they go mushy, squashing them with a wooden spoon. It's great on chicken, but I like to fry off some chorizo and serve it on pasta.

redz11

G-Money wrote: »

Those recipes sound nice, but I just need a recipe for the sauce. Someone posted earlier about a recipe that was just a tin of tomatoes, tomato puree and that was about it. That doesn't sound too bad, but I would probably need to add some spices to it or something. Perhaps some garlic and onion too.

Defo want to avoid excess salt and fat.

I usually use passata rather than tinned tomatoes or tomato puree. For a really quick bolognese sauce, you could just mix a jar of passata with a few spoons of basil pesto and a couple of cloves of garlic. Along with any veggies you want (I'd usually use mushrooms and onions.)

G-Money

redz11 wrote: »

I usually use passata rather than tinned tomatoes or tomato puree. For a really quick bolognese sauce, you could just mix a jar of passata with a few spoons of basil pesto and a couple of cloves of garlic. Along with any veggies you want (I'd usually use mushrooms and onions.)

I tried to make it with passata before and it was awful.

redz11

G-Money wrote: »

I tried to make it with passata before and it was awful.

Well the only ingredient in passata is tomatoes, as far as I know! So if it turned out awful, I wouldn't necessarily put it down to the passata - the only difference between using passata and tinned tomatoes, in my experience, is that the tinned ones will make a "lumpier" sauce.

G-Money

It's possible I didn't cook it right or something. But it had no flavour at all. I think I just added in onion salt and garlic pepper.

Dizzyblonde

Here's my recipe, I've been making it for years:

1lb of lean minced beef
1 onion, finely chopped
1 large or 2 small carrots, finely diced
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
Two tins of chopped tomatoes
Two teaspoons of sugar
A teaspoon of dried basil
A teaspoon of dried oregano
A generous squirt of tomato puree
Salt and black pepper
Olive oil

Fry the carrot and onion in olive oil until it starts to soften. Add the garlic and fry gently for another minute. Turn up the heat and add the minced beef and fry it until it browns. Add the other ingredients, bring to the boil, cover with a lid and simmer gently for 3 hours, taking the lid off for the last 30 minutes.

*simmering it for 3 hours makes a huge difference to the flavour and texture

redz11

G-Money wrote: »

It's possible I didn't cook it right or something. But it had no flavour at all. I think I just added in onion salt and garlic pepper.

Oh you definitely need loads of basil anyways for a start!

nesbitt

Having searched for the 'just right' jar of sauce from the supermarket shelf to no avail I am convinced that making my own sauce is easy with ingredients that I would have to hand mostly anyway. All good so far.

I am however confused about how long to cook the sauce. I would have thought that I could do this while my pasta was boiling and have dinner on the table in about 20 mins or so. I do like the '30 min meal approach'....

I do not fancy cooking sauce on the hob for 3 hours unless it was a large batch for the freezer.

Conflicting advice which method is best for fuller flavour?

huskerdu

nesbitt wrote: »

Having searched for the 'just right' jar of sauce from the supermarket shelf to no avail I am convinced that making my own sauce is easy with ingredients that I would have to hand mostly anyway. All good so far.

I am however confused about how long to cook the sauce. I would have thought that I could do this while my pasta was boiling and have dinner on the table in about 20 mins or so. I do like the '30 min meal approach'....

I do not fancy cooking sauce on the hob for 3 hours unless it was a large batch for the freezer.

Conflicting advice which method is best for fuller flavour?

Simmering for hours is best.

However, 20 minutes is adequate if that is all you have. I've done it plenty of times. Be more heavy handed with the flavorings.

Passata is best for shorter cooking times.
A tin of tomatoes needs longer to cook down to a good texture.

Also, a cheap, poor quality tin of tomatoes will be more noticable is not cooked for a long time.

G-Money

Tried your recipe Huskerdu. Tweaked it slightly and added oregano, basil and chilli powder. It wasn't too bad. Made it with two cans of chopped tomatoes so I have enough sauce for two more dinners.

huskerdu

G-Money wrote: »

Tried your recipe Huskerdu. Tweaked it slightly and added oregano, basil and chilli powder. It wasn't too bad. Made it with two cans of chopped tomatoes so I have enough sauce for two more dinners.

Good, however, I note you say " Not too bad". Obviously not as nice as you hoped.

Are you comparing this to a jar of commercial pasta sauce ?

If so, you may be noticing the lack of salt. Commercial pasta sauce has LOADS of salt and if you are not used to sauce made with none, you will notice the difference. Your taste buds will readjust after a while.

I know you are cutting down on salt, but a tiny pinch should be acceptable, if you are not eating any processed foods or crisps.

Swampy

Celery
Onion
Carrot

Diced and sweated on olive oil.

Add two tins of chopped tomatoes, two or three tubes of tomato puree.2 cloves of garlic minced. Bit of sugar to balance out the acidity. Some Black pepper and some fresh herbs at the end.

Boom.

Edit: you really do need a small bit of sea salt in there.

munchkin_utd

to be honest, you just have to make sure you get a very good lean mince if you want a healthy bolognase sauce. If you have to drain fat then your mince is wrong in the first place.

Also, on the recipe angle of things.
The italians use half/ half mix of minced pork and beef.
At this stage I'm tending to prefer this myself as its just that shade milder than pure beef mince and this is probably the reason its used by them.

AND... theres a jamie oliver recipe out there where he uses 2 tins of tomatoes but NO concentrate from a tube which is also another take on it and it nice and light for the summer (especially with the half half mince)

markesmith

My 'recipe'
- finely chopped garlic, celery, onion, carrots and chorizo/rashers in a wok/deep frying pan on a low heat, leave for about 25 mins
- brown lean beef mince and lean pork mince (70/30 ratio). Needs to be browned separately.
- pour one glass of red wine on top of the mince and let it reduce, stirring occasionally.
- Throw mushrooms and red peppers on top of the veg and up the heat to 4 or 5 for about 5 mins.
- Add the two pots together, and throw in 2-3 cans diced tomatoes. Put some tomato puree, wine, a slap of Worcestershire sauce, spoonful of salt and spoonful of sugar into one of the empty tomato cans, stir it up and pour this over. Stir it all up.
- Drop the heat to 1 or 2 on the hob, and leave it for about an hour and half to reduce.