5 Meals Using Leftover Bolognese Sauce

Simmering pot of bolognese sauce

Spaghetti bolognese is a very popular dish in my house. The kids like how it tastes, and I like how I can eke a few meals out of a few inexpensive ingredients, making it a very useful for frugal cooking. I also like that I can slip a few extra veggies in but I don't tell the boys that.

Invariably, I always cook about twice as much sauce as we need for one meal. This isn't a bad thing because a bolognese sauce can be used for so much more than just ladling on spaghetti.

1. Lasagne

I use the exact same sauce for a lasagne that I use for a spaghetti bolognese.

You will need:

• Box of non-cook lasagne sheets - these can be layered in the sauce and don't need to be pre-cooked. 
• Tub of ricotta cheese
• Ball of mozarella cheese
• Parmesan cheese
• Fresh herbs - thyme, basil, and oregano (if you can find them, otherwise dried will work)
• Milk
• Black pepper to season

Method:

• Place the ricotta, a tablespoon or so of grated parmesan, a bit of grund black pepper, and the finely chopped fresh herbs (or dried) into a bowl. Add just enough milk to loosen the cheese enough to spread easily. 
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• Ladle a small amount of sauce into a casserole dish. Cover over with the lasagne sheets, spoon a bit more sauce over the top. Add a layer of the ricotta mixture. Then repeat with sheets, sauce and ricotta. 
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• Finish up with a layer of sauce over the top then shred the mozzarella and spread that plus another tablespoon or so of grated parmesan over the top.
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• Preheat the oven to 180c/350f/gas mark 4. Bake the lasagne for about 30 - 45 minutes, until it is hot and bubbling, and the cheese is melted and browned across the top.

 2. Pasta bake

Similar to a lasagne, but without the fuss of layering.

You will need:

• Cooked pasta - I use farfalle or penne, but anything you have in the cupboard would work.
• Mozzarella or a combination of favourite cheeses
• Parmesan cheese (optional)

Method:

• Cook the pasta, drain and combine with the sauce. 
• Stir in chunks of cheese
• Spoon into a casserole dish and sprinkle the top over with parmesan, if desired. 
• Bake in a preheated oven at 350f/180c/gas mark 4 for about 30 minutes, until the top is browned and the dish is hot and bubbling. 

3. Pizza

A quick meal that can be as easy or as complicated as you desire.

Home made pizza

You will need:

• Pizza bases, make your own or buy ready-made
• Favourite grated cheeses
• Assorted meats and vegetables for toppings
• Fresh thyme and basil, roughly chopped
• Ground black pepper
• Olive oil

Method:

• Place the base on a baking sheet
• Spoon some of the sauce and spread over the pizza base. 
• Add on any toppings you want
• Add on a bit of cheese
• Sprinkle over some of the fresh herbs, a bit of black pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil
• Bake in a preheated oven at 350f/180c/gas mark 4 for about 10 - 15 minutes. 

For an even quicker, child-friendly, mini-pizza lunch idea, spoon a bit of the heated sauce over slices of bread (I will sometimes use a round cutter to create rounds of bread, add a bit of cheese, and tuck under a medium-hot grill for a few minutes until the cheese is melted and starting to brown.

4. Jacket potato

This makes a nice lunch-time meal, or a simple mid-week evening meal

You will need:

• Baking potato, one per person
• Favourite cheese, optional

Method:

• Bake whole potatoes in the oven or microwave until soft inside
• Spoon over some of the heated sauce, and sprinke with a bit of cheese if desired. 
• Serve with a fresh salad

 

5. Omelette

This works equally well for any meal in the day.


You will need:

• Eggs
• Butter
• Cheese

Method:

• Whisk 2- 3 eggs until frothy, add in a touch of milk if desired
• Melt butter in a skillet over a medium-high heat
• Pour in the egg mixture and let cook untilnearly set all the way through
• As the eggs cook, gently lift at the sides to allow more of the uncooked egg to run underneath.
• When nearly cooked through, spoon some of the heated sauce over one half of the omelett, sprinkle over some of the cheese. 
• Fold the other half of the egg over the sauce and serve immediately
• You can have this as is for breakfast or brunch, or add a green salad for a complete lunch-time or evening meal.

Kids in the Kitchen

Ham and Cheese sandwich ready to eat

This past week, my 12 year old son had to cook a croque monsieur at home, and take pictures to hand in to his food tech teacher at school. With perhaps a bit of reluctance, I let him loose in the kitchen and took charge of the camera to take photos.

What is a croque monsieur?
In very simple terms, it's a grilled ham cheese sandwich with a béchamel sauce. Thankfully, the kids were told they could leave the sauce off.

Melting butter in SKK saute pan

He was supposed to include details on safety issues when cooking under a grill within his written work, but aswe don't have a grill, he and I discussed safety issues when cooking on the hob instead.

1. Never leave a heating pan unsupervised.
2. Turn handles in towards the side or back of the cooker, but not so that they overhang another burner.
3. Don't touch a burner, or pan on the burner, with bare hands.
4. Adjust the heating so that it is appropriate for the food which is being cooked. In this case, I recommended he use a med-high heat so that the bread would brown without burning while the cheese melted.

Slicing cheddar cheese

Slicing ham

I suggested he use the serrated knife and not the ceramic chef's knife for preparing ingredients. The serrated knife is better suited for slicing cheese, and also a bit more forgiving of heavy-handed pre-teenage boys.


For his cheese, he selected a mature cheddar. The ham came from a small pre-cooked gammon joint, which tasted loads better than processed ham as well as being less expensive.

Assembled ingredients and tools

Time to put everything together

Ingredients assembled and prepared, he began putting his ham and cheese sandwich together.

I did make one suggestion here, that he not place the two halves of the bread together until after the cheese had a chance to melt on each side.

Slowly cooking

Pan heated, he carefuly placed both halves into the pan and let them cook.

He noticed the cheese was not melting very well, and realised that he could have sliced it thinner.

Because he doesn't like sauces or butter, both are noticably absent from this sandwich as well. The bit of butter in the pan was a token gesture, made only because I suggested the sandwich would brown better if he used it.

It's nearly ready

After the cheese was melted, my son checked the bottom of one half of the sandwich to see if it was browned enough. He decided it was nearly ready, and very carefully used a spatula to flip one half on top of the other.

While the sandwich continued to cook, he and his younger brother created a second croque monsieur in the background, this time using a gluten-free bread thin.



My older son had his ham and cheese toastie by itself,while his younger brother decided to have his as an accompaniment with a bowl of soup. I also ate mine by itself, but did have some fresh fruit after.

Final verdict: He liked the sandwich, but prefers plain ham without the cheese.

I believe that cooking is a skill that all children need to learn, and I am glad that cooking skills are being taught in secondary school. I may just suggest to my son that he make his croque monsieur at home more often now that he and I both know he can do it.