Cook with me - Spaghetti Bolognese

What's for dinner? the kids are screaming and I got big kids lol Spaghetti Bol I yell back, and I get a 'yay', yep you cant beat a classic dish like good old wog spaghetti bolognese hahaha
I want to firstly tell you that I'm married to a Italian, so I had to learn to cook alot of Italian food, and over the year's I've gotten pretty good at it, and this one is what I cooked tonight, and I'm going to share it with you, now you probably already know this one or have your own way to cook it, so please feel free to share with us in the comments, also remember you can add different ingredients or leave something I have added out, no worries at all,  this meal is soooo easy, and as I said a real classic, hope you enjoy......

Here is what you need...

This is what I used but you can adjust the amount to suit your family size,
I have half a kg of beef mince 
(but you can use minced chicken or pork and works well if you use half and half with beef mince)
onion - chopped
Red Capsicum - chopped
can of chopped tomatoes ( I like the coles one but have shown two brands here)
Garlic - crushed
Chilli - finely chopped and optional
Oregano and Basil (can also add rosemary)
Aniseed - will be adding a photo - this is optional
One bottle of Tomatoe cooking sauce (bottle shown here is from good ol Aldi's) 
Tomatoe paste - optional and in photo below (always forget something in the pic)
And your choice of pasta or spaghetti

Now wooden spoon at the ready and let's cook dinner.....
chop up the onion and capsicum and chilli (can use dried chilli) but when you come to do the garlic here is a tip if you didn't already know...

TIP: To peel the garlic easy cut the end off the garlic clove and lay the blade of the knife flat over the top of the clove and hit down with the heel of your hand as shown in this photo... 

Not to hard as dont want to smash the clove and skin should come off very easy like so...

Now we are ready to start dinner......

I use a cast iron pot as it holds it's heat well use whatever pot you have, heat some olive oil on a medium to low heat, don't want to burn everything, and add the onion first, fry for afew minutes until onion starts to look soft.
once everyone smells the onion and garlic frying everyone will be hungry, trust me hahahah.
now add the capsicum, crushed garlic and chilli and add alittle more oil if starting to look dry, fry for a further 2 or 3 minutes and add the mince meat, making sure to break up all lumps of meat with your spoon, you dont want big (or small) lumps of meat, once the meat is cooked add the tomatoe paste, I used a small can in photo above, or about 2 tablespoons, and mix well, now put in the can tomatoe, mix and the bottle of sauce...
 another tip that I do is after you have put the whole bottle of sauce in I add alittle water to the bottle, put the lid back on and shake well and add to the pot as I like my sauce to be on the runny side.

TIP: I add sugar (white) about now to the sauce as the sugar takes the acid out of the tomatoes.

Add about one tablespoon of white sugar and the oregano and basil, salt and pepper to taste, and I like to add Aniseed.... but this is optional...

 pic added so you can see the amount and not everyone knows what Aniseed is :) 
give the sauce a good stir and leave on a low simmer.
Now I would put another pot of salted water on to boil to cook the pasta, but remember not to add salt until after the water comes to the boil, the sauce will only need the time the pasta takes to cook to be ready, meanwhile open a bottle of nice red while you are waiting and pour a glass, now once the water is boiling and you have salted it and added the pasta give it a stir to stop the pasta sticking together, once pasta is cooked to your liking drain it then quickly add to the sauce, dont shake every drop of water out of it as the pasta will absorb the sauce, this is why I prefer my sauce to be on the runny side as it wont stay that way for long, as I said I like to add my pasta straight into the sauce but you can do whatever pleases you as long as its my way hahahah
Top up your glass and serve with parmesan cheese. 

yummy and another quick and easy dish :) 

Now being Friday I not sure if I'll be blogging over the weekend, if anyone actually reads this? lol and tomorrow night we are going to see Mrs Browns Boys with our good friends so should be a good night, so lots to blog about come Monday, Oh oh and...... 

BREAKING NEWS........ Tiny is said to be coming home next wednesday, the car doctors said she has a case of a broken high pressure pump so have ordered a new one in on monday, operate tuesday and she should be allowed to come home wednesday so fingers crossed our girl will be back home....ohhh I'm sooo happy, so's the mechanic he gets to live :) 

This whole blog was all about cooking, so hope it still kept you entertained and you all (whoever you are) has a good weekend.

Cheers Lisa.