Recipe: SpagBol

Believe it or not, there is Spaghetti hiding under there.

This was Dinner last night. A mighty staple in our lifestyle, because it's one of the things that is easy and usually turns out alright.
Also, did you know that tomato-based dishes actually taste better after a day or two in the fridge? Tomato-based science, I think. Or maybe it's the 'acquiring food with minimal effort' effect. Anyway, away we go:

15-20 mins prep time. Depends how fast you can chop stuff.
Serves ~4 (We tend to make our food to have leftovers for lunch the next day.)

~450g mince
1/2 an onion
1 clove garlic
1 thing of tomato paste (yoghurt tub? Or a tablespoon or two)
1 can tomatoes (chopped or whole.)
1 bottle of pasta sauce

(If you want to stretch the recipe, like any good uni student)
1 carrot
(We had some roasted Capsicum in the fridge that I made a few days back. Some of that went in too)

Also, Spaghetti. People like different ratios of spag to bol, so I'm going to leave that volume up to you.

Summon your chopping board, knife, grater, saucepan/frying pan/electric wok, saucepan/rice cooker, wooden spoon and kitchen essentials (Well, the salt, pepper and olive oil. The garlic should already be out).

Put some water on to boil for the spaghetti. (We don't have an inbuilt stovetop at our place, so we use the rice cooker instead. If that's the case with you, fill 'er up and set to 'cook')

Dice the onion
Slice the garlic
Grate the carrot

Set the saucepan/wok to a medium heat and pour in a little bit of oil (like, a tablespoon or something). Roll it around. Throw in the first three ingredients. Stir them around a little bit.

Keep pushing the root veggies around until the onion is close to brown. Add the tomato paste.
Once the onion is browned, add the mince. Brown that too.

Add yon can o' tomatoes and pasta sauce.

Turn the heat down a little and let it simmer. Stir it from time to time.
Pull out the Pepper and Salt and condiment it to taste.
If for some reason your pantry happens to house things like bottles of herbs/mixed spices/bayleaves, then feel free to add these. Herbs that go best with this mix are Oregano, Basil and Thyme. One or two bayleaves are plenty.

If you happen to be the multi-tasking type, then while you are making the Bolognaise, keep an eye on the water. When it hits boiling, throw in the spaghetti.

If you happen to be in the mood for express Spaghetti, you can speed up the waiting process for boiling water. Boil the water in a jug first; then pour into the spaghetti-making device. Crank device to eleven, and the water will be boiling in no time.

So, make spaghetti. Drain and wrangle into bowls. Apply bolognaise to it. Apply more salt or pepper if you're keen. Also, cheese if that happens to be in the fridge.

Don't eat so quickly that your guts try to have a riot.

Price? Roughly $7.80. Per Serving, it's closer to $2.

Tips:
It doesn't take too long to figure out that the most expensive thing on a uni student's food docket is meat. However, going full-vegetarian requires careful planning and a willingness to part with the concept of Bacon. If that isn't your plan, then I suggest working out how much meat you actually need. Also, knowing what time the deli people in the food store go around and mark the meat for quick sale can pay off. We paid half price for the mince used in this recipe.

Also, if Onions make you get all emotional, I'd recommend sticking the offending vegetable under some running water. It rinses off all the fume-laced juices.



Do you have any comments or suggestions? Let me know!