Dolmio v Your Recipe

Toto Wolfcastle

The Black Oil wrote: »

Presumably if you buy a large jar of passata it has to be used within 2-3 days of opening/kept in the fridge?

It does tend to go off quite quickly. I usually pour the rest of it into a ziploc bag and freeze it.

John Mason

i wont give you our recipe, as you have loads but if you get a good recipe, your family wont touch dolmio again.

It has really funny chemically taste - i get very excited when i know we are having spag bol

The Sweeper

Honey-ec wrote: »

A 500ml carton of passata is about 49c in Aldi.

.

I wish we had Aldi... I pay 3-4 times the price of toms for an equivalent weight of passata.

Honey-ec

The Sweeper wrote: »

I wish we had Aldi... I pay 3-4 times the price of toms for an equivalent weight of passata.

I lied - it's 59c. Checked today.

Aldi rocks, I'll be the first to say it.

Jellybaby1

busyliving wrote: »

This is one I have seen posted by another boards member, its a good one and full of flavour

http://www.food.com/recipe/traditional-spaghetti-bolognese-21242?scaleto=1&sys=m

Ok I've started to try some of the recipes you've been giving me here and this was my first one. I noticed some strange amounts in the ingredients like 1/4 lb mince but when I clicked 'print this recipe' they all came up ok and it was 1lb mince. Anyway I have to say the house smelled fantastic while this bubbled away for a couple of hours today. Couldn't wait to taste it. It didn't disappoint, I loved it. However, I have one voter still voting for Dolmio. Thanks to busyliving for the recipe. I'll try some others over the next weeks - it'll take some time but I'm determined to change that voters mind!! This is what this one looked like.

snickerpuss

The Neven Maguire recipe is also the one we use in our family! Can't beat it.

Toulouse

We use Neven's too but it's a slightly different version I think. This is the one in his Real Food for Families book.

2 tbsps Olive Oil
1oz rindless streaky bacon (diced)
1 Carrot (small dice)
1 Celery stick (small dice)
1 Small Onion (small dice)
1 tsp fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp dried Oregano
1lb/454g Mince beef
1 tbsp tomato puree
150ml Red Wine
400g tinned tomatoes
600ml Chicken/Beef Stock
Salt and Pepper to season.

1: Add the Olive Oil to a heavy bottomed pan and fry the bacon until it's
crispy and it's fats have been released.
2: Add the onion, carrot, celery, thyme, bay & oregano and fry gently until
starting to soften.
3: Add the meat and mix well with the other ingredients. Break up any big
lumps and brown.
4: Add the tomato puree and continue to fry for a further 2 minutes.
5: Add half the red wine and deglaze the bottom of the pan, scrape up any
sediment and add the rest of the wine.
6: Add the tomatoes and stock and bring up to the boil.
7: Allow to simmer for between 2-4 hours, until the meat is tender and the
liquid has reduced. Check seasoning.

I use Passata instead of tinned tomatoes as I hate the bits in tinned tomatoes. I also add a couple of dashes of worcester sauce for piquancy
after I've added the stock. If you don't have fresh thyme just use dried.

Everyone that's tasted it agrees that's it the best bolognese sauce ever so give it a shot and convert that last voter!

whydoibother?

While homemade is always the nicest, on occasions where there just isn't time, I do think Loyd Grossman is a very good jar option - nicer than Dolmio.

Guill

Made Meatballs last night - my first ever attempt.

The plan was for meatballs in tomato sauce. I made a mistake in the recipe, i never browned the meatballs on the pan before adding to the sauce, as the recipe asked for. I just plopped them into a boiling can of tomatoes, I let the sauce reduce as the meatballs were cooking, then grated a small bit of Parmisan cheese and a chillie.
Due to my error all the flavour from the spices i used in the meat was absorbed into the sauce, it was savage! Deffo making it again like that.

Jellybaby1

Guill, that's probably how a lot of successful recipes are discovered, by some trial, and a little error!

the beer revolu

Guill wrote: »

Made Meatballs last night - my first ever attempt.

The plan was for meatballs in tomato sauce. I made a mistake in the recipe, i never browned the meatballs on the pan before adding to the sauce, as the recipe asked for. I just plopped them into a boiling can of tomatoes, I let the sauce reduce as the meatballs were cooking, then grated a small bit of Parmisan cheese and a chillie.
Due to my error all the flavour from the spices i used in the meat was absorbed into the sauce, it was savage! Deffo making it again like that.

Despite the commonly used term of 'sealing meat', the process of browning meat doesn't seal it at all but rather creates lovely caramelised, meaty flavours. So, had you browned the meat balls they would still have released their spicy flavours but might have added some more flavours to boot. Next time try browning the meat balls and see if it makes any difference, then you can decide whether it's worth the trouble or not. Just cause they tasted good without browning doesn't mean that that is the best they could taste (although it might be).