Bolognese Alla Natalia

So here we are, three weeks of the school holidays down. The first week, I really enjoyed. The second week, Mr Busy was off, so that was great too. This week has been a little harder. The whining, the ‘why-ing’, the bickering, the potty training and to top it all, PMT. Today has been the worst, I have had no patience for anything today. And I feel awful.
The potty training – well, two poos on the floor and one in the bath is enough to tip anybody over the edge, surely? One of the poos was on that sodding seagrass carpet, you know the one you can’t clean properly? Yup. Whoever invented that wants shooting.

The whining and the why’s – ‘It’s hard’ I said to my Mum as we drove up to Fountain’s Abbey, ‘I don’t want to suppress them. I don’t want them to stop questioning things, it’s a great thing to question things. But… do they have to question everything?!’
‘I know what you mean’ Mum says, ‘I think sometimes they’re just saying “Why” because they know it pushes your buttons’.

The bickering – ‘I WANT THUNDERBIRDS 3! IT’S MY FAVOURITE! NO IT’S MY FAVOURITE! NO MINE! NO MINE! RAAAAAAAAH!’ **Cue hitting each other**

The PMT – well if you’re a woman, you know. To be honest, if you’re a man in a relationship, you probably know too, you poor soul.

Here is why I feel awful;
1) After baking banana muffins and Captain Fantastic eating one, he turns to me and says ‘You make the best banana muffins in the world Mummy’. Heart melts.
2) Half way through eating tea, Captain Fantastic gets off his chair, walks over to me and throws his arms around my neck. ‘What was that for?’ I ask. He shrugs and says ‘Because you make me meatballs Mummy’. I want to cry.
3) I track my husband on ‘Find my iPhone’ to see when he’s coming home. I see he’s stopped at M&S. Bloody hell, he’ll be doing something really nice so I can’t take my PMT out on him. Ten minutes later, he strolls through the door with a bunch of flowers. Bastard. How dare he be so lovely.
Whilst cooking dinner, I pick an argument with him until he cracks and argues back. I then sit and cry.
‘What’s the matter?’ he says.
‘You’re just so lovely. Sob sob. But I can’t stand the sight of you and the kids today. Sob sob Ha ha. I love you all so much but you’re just so irritating today. Sob sob. You’re so lovely to me but the sight of you just makes me snarl. Ha ha ha ha’ and with that, I dissolve into laughter, the tension of the day melting away.

I feel like the worst wife and mother but tomorrow will be better. We all have off days, and for that, there is gin and spaghetti bolognese.

Bolognese Alla Natalia I don’t claim this is authentic. Probably Italians are rolling in their graves. Ah well. The first Bolognese I cooked was by Delia Smith and as the years have gone, I have tweaked it to the way I like it. If you’re starting out cooking, Delia’s Complete Cookery Course is a good place to start. It has all the basics and that’s how I started cooking. Delia taught me. I still also find that her timings for boiled eggs are the only ones that work for me! I chop my veg in the thermomix and then saute them and if you don’t have some sort of machine, I would absolutely advise getting a mini-chopper. They are totally affordable and make so many things so much easier as I like the veg in my mince dishes to be teeny weeny. Serves 8. I like to portion it up and stick it in the freezer for days I can’t be bothered to cook. Ingredients Olive oil 1 large onion 2 carrots 2 sticks celery 2 garlic cloves 500g beef mince 500g pork or veal mince 500 ml passata 200g tomato puree Half a bottle of red wine 1 beef stock cube (I use the knorr stock pot things) Nutmeg (a hangover from Delia’s version) 1 Bay leaf Salt and pepper Preheat oven to 140 c Method 1. Finely chop your veg (seriously, get a mini-chopper). You can grate the garlic, carrot and onion and then really finely chop the celery. 2. Heat 2 tbsp olive oil and saute the veg until soft, add a splash of water if it starts to stick. Transfer to a large stew pot. 3. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil and brown the beef mince, breaking up and moving around the pan. I hammer the crap out of it with my wooden spoon as I like my mince really fine, can’t stand wormy mince. Gag. Repeat with the pork mince. Transfer to the pot. 4. Put the pot on the heat, add the red wine and mix everything together well. When the wine is bubbling, add the passata, tomato puree, beef stock, grating of nutmeg, bay leaf and salt and pepper. Stir well and bring up to a simmer and then put the pot in the oven with no lid on. 5. Cook for 4 hours or until it’s reached the consistency that you like. We like it fairly dry, so that it coats the pasta well. No sloppy sauce! 0 Comments No comments posted