On Spaghetti...

Everyone has a recipe that, in their own humble opinion, nobody does better than their own family. They won't have it anywhere else, or if they do, they'll know in their hearts it would be so much better at home. For me, that has to be spaghetti bolognaise. Nobody can beat the Ganly family spaghetti recipe. I learnt how to make it from my mother, and while I wouldn't go so far as to say I make it as well as she does, mine's not half-bad.

It's a fairly simple recipe, too, which is even better.

You will need:

• 500g beef mince
• a handful of diced bacon
• 1 brown onion, diced
• 1/2 a large red capsicum, diced
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 tin of tomato soup
• 1 cup of water (easiest option is to fill the emptied tomato soup tin with water, tbh)
• 1 tsp beef stock
• 1 heaped tbsp tomato paste
• various herbs and spices (I like to use parsley, oregano and chilli, but I usually throw in contents of the tin labelled 'mixed herbs' too, for variety)

Heat a large frypan and throw in a dash of olive oil. Put in the bacon, onion, capsicum and garlic, and cook until the onion begins to brown/bacon starts to cook. Then, add in the mince and cook until it browns. Once that's cooking nicely, add in the the soup, water (with beef stock added in to the water), and tomato paste. Stir, then sprinkle the seasonings. Leave to simmer while you cook the pasta.

Plain spaghetti is fine, I know I've always loved various alternatives like shells and spirals though, but that's because I'm childish. Strain the pasta and spoon in to bowls, topping with the bolognaise sauce and parmesan cheese (if you desire). It's also good with garlic bread.

As I write this I have bolognaise sauce simmering on the stove. The longer you leave it to simmer the better. Even so, it's a delicious recipe and well worth a try.

Unless you don't like bacon.

Or happen to be vegetarian.

In which case you shouldn't have read this post in the first place.