How to cook good spaghetti bolognese for less than a quid

I have always enjoyed Italian food. In fact apart from Malaysian style cuisine, I rank Italian food as the most enjoyable (along with South Indian and Pakistan asian style cuisine).

My favourite restaurant happens to be FAT leo in Market Street, Brighton. They serve excellent Italian food and the waiters are very friendly (if not a little too eccentric). Unfortunately, although cheap at £5.95 for a two course meal, my budget does not permit me to enjoy such fine dining every week. And did I mention that it is located in Brighton, some 90 minutes away by train.

What do I do? I cook my own Italian dinner and share with you this easy recipe I just tried out today. Classic spaghetti bolognese with a twist and for less than a squid. I am not exactly Jamie Oliver (I don't even shop at Sainbury's) so please excuse the simplicity...

You need the following:



Boil about 90g of spaghetti in salted water. You can use any pasta. My preference is actually tagliatte. Here I am using Buitoni's popular Spaghetti Express which requires about 11 minutes of boiling. It is rather expensive at 69p a pack but I got it from Morrisons which had a buy 2 for 1 promotion.



Now for the sauce. I didn't want anything fancy so I just chopped of a piece of frankfurter to be used as meat. Mixed it with about 180g of Dolmio's Extra Spicy Bolognese. This is the first time I use this sauce. Again I got it from Morrisons. Two for £1.50. Dolmio sauces are not exactly thick and creamy. In order to make it creamier, I added about 2 table spoons of Dolmio's Creamy Carbonara sauce. The pack was already opened and sitting in the fridge over the past two weeks so why waste it?



Heat it up on the hob for about one minute or until the mix starts to boil. Herta Frankfurters are pre-cooked sausages so it is alright. As you can see above, I accidentally cooked too much. Just dump the rest into a tupperware. The sauce can be refrigerated and re-heat through microwave.



That's it! Just add a table spoon of olive oil and sprinkle some cheese. The spicy sauce by Dolmio is a real winner. It is not exactly hot and won't light any fire but it is fine for what it is. And yes the sauce is a little thin, so the added Carbonara sauce really improved it. A quick brain calculation reveals the cost of the meal to be less than 90 pence (MYR 6.50).

Buono appetit!