Mix up your mince

This is another post that was originally published in The Mancunion and has been adapted for you all.  If you ever make bolognese but want to do something different to spaghetti or cottage pie then this is for you. I've taken a family staple and suggested different ways to serve it. If you've got a family or are cooking for a group then you could always make a double batch and try a few different options. The bolognese on its own is good for freezing and you can add more vegetables to your taste, I often add diced peppers at the same time as the carrots or frozen peas for the last 10 minutes of cooking.

Do you ever make a big pan of bolognese (the English kind, not the proper Italian stuff, I've yet to make ragù) and then realise you’re bored of eating it all up before it goes bad? Well, never fear, here are some ways to switch things up.

This is my basic recipe for bolognese

Serves 4

Pesto Take Two

As some of you may remember, I tried and failed to make pesto back in September. Last week I came across another pesto recipe and decided to try it so that I could make pesto and mozzarella tarts. In case it also failed, I bought a jar of ready made sauce! Well, I'm happy to report that this recipe (I think it was from delicious.) works perfectly, though I have changed the amount of parmesan as it was slightly overpowering. This does mean that the ingredients are now terribly easy to remember as they're all the same quantities or by eye.

You'll ideally use a a mini food processor for this but If you were feeling up to it a pestle and mortar should work too, just don't try to overload it. I promise that if you make this you won't regret it, or go back to jars as it only takes the amount of time the 10 minute pasta takes to cook.

Leek and Bacon Pasta Bake

This is a family favourite and I can't remember where it originated from but my sister can probably tell me! We normally cook this in France and have a few variations - chicken and broccoli, leek and bacon, pea and chicken, or any combination of those ingredients. I'm afraid this is one of my very vague recipes as I always forget to weigh the ingredients before I cook them. You just need to make enough cheese sauce to cover the pasta. Last time I made it I used half dried pasta and half fresh pasta and it tasted delicious.

Bacon and leeks

Leek and bacon pasta bake recipe

Serves 3 or so people

Preheat the oven to 180˚

Ingredients

2 leeks, thinly sliced

6 rashers of bacon, cut into pieces

Enough cooked pasta for 2 people

Knob of butter

Plain flour

Milk

Optional grating of nutmeg

Cheddar cheese or gruyère

Method

In a frying pan gently and slowly cook the leeks and bacon until the bacon is cooked and the leeks are soft and not squeaky.

Cook the pasta so that it's al dente.

Melt the butter in a heavy based pan and add the flour to make a roux (when it makes a sort of paste from the melted butter and flour).

Once the roux is made, slowly add milk, stirring/whisking all the time, until the mixture is smooth.

Bring to gently to the boil and keep stirring until the sauce thickens.

Take off the heat.

Grate a little nutmeg in (I don't know where to put in the nutmeg in a cheese sauce so I just add it near the end) and then pop the grated cheese in to taste. Stir until the cheese is melted in.

Put the leeks, bacon, pasta and sauce in an ovenproof dish and cook in the oven for 20 minutes or so until the cheese has melted and is beginning to brown on top.

Cheese sauce with nutmeg

Easy Peasy Tomato Sauce

I never seem to have pasta sauces in the house when I need them so I make my own sauce whenever I want a simple meal. It tastes amazing with homemade pasta (dried pasta also tastes very good) and takes maybe half an hour to make (if the pasta's already been done that is). Take a look at my other recipes for how to make your own pasta.

Pasta sauce recipe
Use a heavy bottomed pan with a lid and remember to stir it occasionally or else it sticks
Feeds 2 with one can of tomatoes, add another and adjust the seasoning for 4 people

Ingredients
1 onion, roughly diced
drizzle of olive oil
1x 400g tin of tomatoes
Crushed garlic
Seasoning
Fresh basil (optional but great if you have it)

Method
It's simple, really, just soften the onions and garlic in the oil, add the tomatoes basil and seasoning.
Cover and let simmer for about half an hour, stirring occasionally.
If you over-salt the sauce just add some brown sugar for a sweet counterpoint.

What's your go-to sauce? Is it homemade or shop bought?

Pasta And Pesto . . . Take One

The pasta went really well, in fact, I love home-made pasta. The pesto, on the other hand, well, it was a bit, alright, very, tasteless and an extremely odd colour (see picture below). Which is a shame really, as proper pesto is gorgeous. I'll try to make it again soon, but to a different recipe, the recipe I used was Theo Randall's one and it involved tipping everything into a blender.  Possibly not the best of ideas as you end up with a thick paste. Having said that, I think his other recipes are great and I might not have followed this one correctly. Oh well, Sam Stern's pesto recipe next, I'll let you know how it goes!

Pasta Recipe

Requires a stand mixer with dough hook and a pasta roller/cutter as I like my recipes to be fairly speedy, especially as this still takes 2 to 3 hours!!!

Basically you need one egg for every 100g and then add as much water as needed to make it stick together, and that will feed one hungry flatmate!

You have to prove the dough for 30 minute or so

For 2 to 3 people

Ingredients

200g pasta flour, also known as 00 flour, plus extra to stop it all sticking together when you roll it out

2 eggs

Water - how much depends on your dough

Method

Put the flour and eggs in the bowl of your mixer and attach the dough hook.

Mix them together until all the egg has joined the flour and then add water a little bit at a time until the dough comes together in one ball without getting sticky.

Then leave the mixer to work the dough for 5-7 minutes, checking occasionally to keep the dough from trying to escape up the hook as it is wont to do.

Take out and cover your dough with cling film and leave to rest for at least 30 minutes, the dough should feel fairly smooth and almost leathery (it's hard to describe but you'll know it when you feel it).

Get out the pasta roller and pull off a fifth of the dough from the ball before covering the rest back up.

Flour the small ball and flatten into a rectangle.

With the pasta roller on the widest setting, roll the rectangle through and then fold it in half, adding more flour.  Pass this through the roller again.

Repeat the above step 4-5 more times, as this kneads the dough again and it important for the taste and texture.

Move the roller to the next thinnest setting and put the dough through.

Continue this process of moving the roller settings until you achieve the desired pasta thickness.

Now, to cut the pasta, if you want lasagne sheets then just cut it with a knife to less than the size of your pan.  If you want spaghetti then either send it through the spaghetti cutters (I have these and linguine ones for my KitchenAid) or use a knife again. Google pasta shapes videos if you want fancy shapes as I've yet to try them and I've got my eye on the KitchenAid pasta shapes cutter, maybe Father Christmas will give it to me? After all, Christmas is only a hundred and something days away!

Leave the pasta to dry out slightly on a clean tea towel, keeping the pieces from touching one another or you'll wind up with one big lump of pasta.

Repeat the rolling and cutting and drying steps for the rest of the pasta, using small pieces at a time.

To cook the pasta you need a large pan of boiling salted water and then put the pasta in for 4 minutes or so, tasting it to see if it's done or not (the lasagne sheets do not need to be pre-cooked).