When I originally posted this 20 odd years ago it was slightly
different - didn't oven roast the capsicums or tomatoes (in fact used
tinned tomatoes!! minus seeds though); didn't use passata (used a
manufactured sauce like Riguletto's Napolitana sauce) so it has evolved
a little over the intervening years.
It is still, however, a huge hit and is even nicer at the second or
third sitting.
Also makes a fantastic base for lasagne.
These days I even make my own pasta!

Spaghetti Bolognaise
1.5kg beef mince
4 onions, peeled and finely diced
6 roasted capsicums (bell peppers), skinned, deseeded, deveined (of
white membranes) and sliced thinly*
1 head roasted garlic, crushed*
6 roasted whole tomatoes*
3 tblsp tomato paste
1 tin tomato soup - salt reduced preferably
1 tsp EACH - oregano, mixed herbs, sweet basil and parsley
1 jar tomato passata - around 500ml
4 largish field mushrooms, skinned +


Brown meat in batches in heavy based large saucepan/casserole dish in a
little olive oil. Remove meat as cooked to a bowl.
Heat 1 tblsp olive oil and fry off the onions and fry while stirring
until softened, then add mushrooms and cook for a minute or two.
Add herbs and tomato paste and fry on medium to high heat for at least
1 minute.
Add chopped tomatoes, capsicum, crushed garlic and passata and stir
well. Bring to the boil and and reduce the heat to a simmer. Add the
browned mince and stir well. If mixture is too thick add either some
beef stock or water. Simmer gently, stirring occasionally, for an hour
or two. The longer it simmers on low heat the richer it will be.

Alternative: chicken cacciatore - substitute 1kg diced chicken meat -
other ingredients & method the same. When the kids were young and
refused zucchini I used to grated it and add while cooking the onions.
For some odd reason they never questioned the big 'herbs'!

*Oven roasted capsicum, tomatoes & garlic: wash tomatoes trim stalks,
wash capsicums well & remove most of the stalks (so that you can stand
them upside down in a baking tray). Place whole capsicums and tomatoes
into baking dish together with the whole garlic, drizzle with olive oil
and bake at 170DegC for around 45 minutes. Once cooked, immediately
place capsicums & tomatoes into 'freezer' bags and seal. Wrap garlic in
foil and allow to cool.
Once cooled sufficiently for handling, gently remove skins, deseed (and
devein capsicums) and slice or chop into chunks. Separate garlic cloves
and squeeze the base of each clove, the garlic pulp will ooze out of
the tip.

+ My family (husband & kids) despise the texture of mushys but not
necessarily the taste. So I can get my mushy fix in my bolognaise, I
blitz them in my braun mini-processor until finely 'minced' then no one
is any the wiser....<nudge, nudge, wink, wink> This is a nifty little
device which holds about 1-2 cups and attaches to my hand held mixer.
You could use a food processor as an alternative but do it on pulse so
the flesh doesn't go to a paste.

LadyJane
--
"Never trust a skinny cook!"