Purple Haze!

Ever since when I could remember I have been a fan of spaghetti bolognaise. It’s such a typically English working class trying to get to middle class family meal, which is exactly what my family was like. When I got to uni I realised I had not learnt how to make bolognaise and I desperately craved it.

At first I was content with simply frying some mince and then chucking a jar of Dolmio/Ragu on it, letting it simmer for 20 minutes and serve. In fairness, it makes quite a nice dinner. But it lacks anything special to it and doesn’t really feature nice fresh ingredients to fill your five a day.

For years I have been making bolognaises with an eye on maximum flavour, veg and cheapness (£1.50 max per person). I have borrowed tips from a few a number of cooking websites but the main influence has come from Dan’s mum’s recipe.

The main philosophy behind it is recognising that although you would consider the beef mince to be the most important ingredient, it isn’t. You can make it with the cheapest mince at the supermarket for a third of the normal price (£1 vs £3) and then mask the shortcomings with other flavours.

As I said I have been cooking and refining this for years. It might not be to everyone’s taste. I can imagine some people baulking at the idea of not putting in lean mince and a complete lack of red wine; plus chicken stock?! But it works for me and anyone who has had it seems to enjoy it.

Ingredients (for 3-4 people)

Prices are approximated

• 500g of beef mince. £1
• Closed-cup mushrooms 400g £1.30
• Large onion 33p
• Carton of chopped tomatos 400g-ish 60p
• Tomato puree 40p
• 2 chicken stock cubes 25p
• Optionally a fresh tomato per person

Total: £3.88

General stuff needed from larder

• Soy sauce
• Pepper
• Oregano/italian spice mix
• 3 garlic cloves
• Olive oil

Instructions

• Chop the onion and crush the garlic. Put 3 tablespoonsish of olive oil in your pan and drop a small bit of onion in it, put on a medium to hot heat. When it starts fizzling add the rest of the chopped onion, stir it up quickly and then add the garlic. Make sure the garlic is stirred in well. Revel in the awesome smell for a few minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Whilst the onion and garlic is cooking you can start chopping your mushrooms. Chop them to however chunky you like
• When the onion starts to turn translucent add the mince. Make sure you break it up well in the pan so there are no clumpy bits. Keep it moving in between chopping the rest of the mushrooms.
• Once most of the redness from the meat has gone, you should have chopped your mushrooms. Add them in and mix well.
• Whilst keeping the mushrooms moving, chop the tomatos if you have them. Put the kettle on and put the stock cubes in a measuring jug. Once it boils fill to around 300ml and stir so the stock cubes are properly dissolved.
• Once the mushrooms are properly cooked, add the non fresh chopped toms and fresh ones if you have them. Give it a few minutes and then add the stock, stir.

The not very scientific bit

The rest you will learn from experience and how you like your bolognaise to taste. I will try and guide you as best I can

• I tend to add half a tube of tomato puree. The tomato puree gives a lovely tomato-y flavour and redness but adding too much makes it taste bitter. I am always tempted to add too much, as at this stage the bolognaise doesnt look much like a bolognaise. Have faith!
• Add a generous splash of soy sauce. This makes the bol a bit saltier.
• Be genereous with black pepper too. Black pepper brings out flavours in almost all food.
• Oregano/italian spice to taste.

Mix it all up well and turn down the heat. It needs at least 20 minutes for everything to “infuse”. Be sure to keep the bolognaise moving every few minutes. If it starts to stick to your pan, the heat is too strong. I like to just clean up the dishes I used and to grate some cheese.

After the 20 minutes have a taste. You can season a little bit more if you feel you need to but you shouldnt add any more tomato puree as it wont really mix in very well at this point. Put on the lowest heat you can and cook your favourite pasta to serve with it.

Like a lot of italian food, it is great to leave some of it in the fridge overnight as it seems to magically taste even better the next day. To re-heat it, sprinkle a little water over it and heat for a few minutes, stir and heat again.

Just over 2 weeks ago I had my second operation on my knee, I was in surgery for 4-5 hours which was much longer than last time. Unfortunately for Ruth she took time off work, arriving shortly after I had left for the theater so had to sit around waiting for me.

I was told this procedure would be more invasive than the previous one and they weren’t kidding. This video illustrates it superbly (about 4 minutes long) but for those too lazy to watch it, essentially they take a graft from the patellar tendon (wiki link); drill a hole from the top of the shin through the knee and out of the thigh. Finally they thread the graft through and screw it in.

Rehabilitation has been generally OK. Obviously I have been in a lot of pain but the therapy is going well and I have got pretty good range of motion back again now, 2 weeks after the procedure. After the first week I ran out of the prescription pain killers and as a result the pain made sleep pretty difficult but this seems to have stopped now.

When I phoned my parents a day after the operation they told me my Nan had passed away. My Nan has had mental health issues which started before I went to University. It has caused me and my family a great deal of heartache at times. She had forgotten who I was years ago. I am not sure it has really hit me yet but I’m sure it will when I return to Kent next week for the funeral.

So these 2 weeks have been pretty tough. I find it hard to enjoy being like this, I honestly don’t like being a burden on my friends so I am working hard to get fit again as soon as possible.

Ruth and my friends have been absolutely fantastic in looking after me. Especially the first week, I barely had to lift a finger. I will have to make it up to them all sometime, once I think of something thoughtful (and cheap :p)

I am now officially working from home. I would honestly prefer to be in the office with my nice coworkers, this just feels like work without the social aspect - which is weak.

Looking onward I have my first post op examination with my surgeon on Thursday just to check everything is dandy and a physiotherapy session. I have been through 6 months of this before and so I know what to expect; a boring and painful process! I just have to keep remembering the eventual goal of hopefully being able to play some football.

Tomorrow I will be going for the second operation for my well documented cruciate ligament problems. My first operation was around 2 years ago and proved to be unsuccesful (warning, that link is incredibly depressing), probably because of my fall during physiotherapy. Initially it was thought I would get away with it but it seems after quite an extensive program of physiotherapy my knee wont get strong enough so I need to be operated on again.

After the last operation I was walking again, albeit gingerly; within a week. This is because it was relatively uninvasive surgery. The projected time before I could play football again was meant to be after around 6 months of physiotherapy.

This time however, the procedure is a bit more involved than before and I am looking at least a year before I can even contemplate engaging in any contact sport. It’s going to be a real mission to get through, but I have a lot of friends to help me through it and in a way I look forward to it and it’ll force me to get fit again. The fact that I have been through it all before gives me a bit more confidence too.

Work as always have been very supportive, I wont be in the office for a month and I think I will begin to miss it after a while. Thankfully the next month wont be a complete waste of time and I have some interesting iPhone apps to write in the meantime.

It is unfortunate that the operation was scheduled after my parents had already planned to be abroad so it will feel a little weird having to go to hospital by myself for the surgery on Monday morning. I will be pretty nervous, even though I know it will be fine; it is very routine surgery.

I really cant wait to be on my feet and doing the training to get going again, but for now it’s going to be a frustrating few months. As you will know I love playing football and I cannot describe how frustrating it is that I haven’t been able to participate in my favourite passtime for around 3 years now. After experiencing the Springer Cup, the inter-company football tournament held in Heidelberg, Germany; it is really annoying that I cant go this year. Hopefully I will be able to make it for Springer Cup 2011