Ingredients

• 1 bag of spaghetti (500g)
• Olive oil for frying
• 1 small onion (or 1/2 large onion), finely chopped
• Fresh garlic (about 1/2 bulb, finely chopped)
• 500g room-temp beef mince

• 1 tin whole Italian tomatoes or chopped tomatoes
• 1 sachet tomato paste (roughly 7g)
• 1 whole beef or chicken stock cube
• A splash of red or white wine (white works great), no more than 1/2 cup
• Optional: 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

• 2 tbsp dried oregano
• 1 fistful fresh basil leaves (dried basil also works)
• Salt (for pasta water and final seasoning)

Method

1. First, get your pot of water on to boil.
2. While it heats, chop onion and garlic, and warm up a frying pan.
3. Add onion first and cook in olive oil over medium-high heat, stirring until translucent (not browned).

4. When onion is about halfway cooked, add garlic so it does not burn.
5. Finish cooking onion + garlic, then remove both to a plate.
6. Heat pan well and add room-temp mince. Brown it properly, aiming for about 1/3 browned bits.

7. If very fatty, drain excess fat.
8. Once mince is browned, add the rest of the ingredients, including the cooked onion/garlic, tin of tomato, tomato paste, oregano, basil.
9. Add stock cube to mince, crushing it into pan and stirring. Add splash of wine, no more than 1/2 cup.

10. Keep at a gentle bubble (not boiling).
11. Simmer as long as you like, stirring occasionally. If sticking, lower heat. Lid optional for long simmer.

13. Salt pasta water to ~1% (about 15 to 20g for ~1.5 to 2L) and taste the water.
14. Add spaghetti without breaking. Cook until just under al dente, then drain and serve with sauce.

Notes

• The stock cube adds most of the salt to your sauce, so taste before adding extra salt.
• Worcestershire sauce is a nice addition, but not strictly necessary.
• Browning your mince is very important for flavor. Use a hot enough pan so the mince fries, not boils.
• For pasta water, it should taste well seasoned. If it would not taste good as a soup, it is not salted enough.

• Pasta keeps cooking after draining into the colander.
• If you like al dente pasta, test in the pot. If the white core has fully disappeared, it is slightly overcooked.
• Aim for the tiniest amount of white in the center, just nice enough to eat but still slightly undercooked.