How To | Low Fat Spaghetti Bolognese
I don't know about you, but one of my favourite dishes to cook (and eat xD) is good old spag bol. Now I am fully aware that the pasta isn't spaghetti, but I think its nice to use different shapes and colours to add more texture and colour to the meal which can prove interesting to a child. I used to love anticipating what shaped pasta my Mum was going to use and I think my favourite pasta shape was 'Farfalle' (the bow ties) :)
Anyway, this time, I decided to use a mixture of Fusilli and Trottole pasta (which was multi coloured), both purchased from Sainsburys. But feel free to use any type of pasta you want, its a very versatile dish and you can break the boundaries sometimes ;).
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Time to Cook: 30-40 minutes
Serves: 5-6
WHAT YOU WILL NEED
500g of Quorn
400g of Pasta
700g jar of Tomato & Herb Sauce (or any spag bol sauce you want)
50-70g of chopped onions
2tsps of beef gravy granules (OPTIONAL)
2tbsp of water
2-3 cloves of garlic (OPTIONAL)
2tsp of Red Pesto
20 meat balls (OPTIONAL)
*NOTE* you can use tomato puree or tinned chopped tomatoes as well, but I think its fine without, but if you prefer your spag bol more tomatoey then feel free to use some!
STEP 1: COOK THE MINCE
You shouldn't need to weigh out the mince meat unless you have a bag which weighs over 500g, but 500g of meat should serve up to 6 people, if you're cooking for more than 6, then make sure you use more mince (but I'm sure you already know this so I'll be quiet now xD).
Make sure the mince is meat free as there's around 10g less fat in it than beef mince :)
Use a non stick wok, you shouldn't need to add olive oil but you can if you wish. I simply poured all the mince (which was frozen) into the pan, turned the gas on and kept it at a medium heat throughout, you don't want to burn the mince so don't whack the heat up too high. Then just wait for the mince to brown.
STEP 2: ADD THE ONIONS
Once the mince looks like the photo above, add the onions, you can use fresh chopped onions if you wish, but I used frozen chopped onions instead, although I have used fresh ones in the past.
STEP 3: ADD THE GRAVY GRANULES
*If you chose not to add gravy granules, see step 4*
Once you've browned the mince and added the onions, add 2 heaped tsps. of beef gravy granules. If you're vegetarian or cooking for anyone who is, skip this step :)
Once you've added the gravy granules, stir the mixture and then add 2 tbsp of water so the gravy can't dry out the mince further.
STEP 4: ADD THE SAUCE
You should use the whole jar if you're cooking for a family BUT if you want to include meat balls, leave a bit of sauce in the bottom, you'll need that later ;)
Now, mix it in until you're happy there's an even spread
STEP 5: ADD THE RED PESTO
You can use green pesto if you want but it can look unsettling in a dish that is supposed to be a deep red colour, so I recommend using the red pesto instead. Just add it to the mixture like you did the sauce and mix it in until you're happy its been adequately spread through the mixture.
AT THIS POINT START BOILING THE PASTA
I suggest pouring the pasta into a pan, and adding boiling hot water to it, then leave to simmer for around 5-7 minutes on low heat, The pasta can be cooking while you're adding the finishing touches to your mince mix.
Perhaps try... either adding a sprinkle of salt to the boiling pasta or 1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil.
STEP 6: CHOP AND POUR IN THE GARLIC CLOVES
Peel the garlic clove and try and chop it as finely as you can, you don't want to bite down a chunk of raw garlic, but its nice to have tiny pieces in it which adds a nice kick the meal without it being spicy.
STEP 7: (optional) COOK THE MEATBALLS
Now the meatballs could be beef or they could be lamb, BUT lamb is more fatty generally so I would suggest using beef instead. you could even use Meat Free Meatballs
I didn't take any photos of these because I initially wasn't going to mention meatballs in this post as I wanted it to be more vegetarian friendly, but I had already included the gravy and didn't want to sound hypocritical so I'm including these as well.
You should cook in a separate pan as 1) its raw meat and 2) it would cook a lot more slowly and probably not very evenly either so make sure you cook them in a separate pan. Once they've browned then put them into the main mixture and mix them in, then, you want to add the rest of the pasta sauce so the meatballs get a good covering as well.
STEP 8: SERVE UP
Drain the pasta off in a colander, wait for a couple of minutes and serve up the pasta, then scoop on as much mince as you ant and simply enjoy :)
Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed this or if you gave it a go, I hope you liked making and eating it ;) I will see you on Wednesday with a brand new blog post for you all :)
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