Sinless spaghetti bolognese (From The Northern Echo)

Sinless spaghetti bolognese

3:54pm Wednesday 13th February 2013 in Eating In: Recipes

After trying – and ditching – every fad diet under the sun, presenter Nadia Sawalha is finally happy with her weight, she tells Diana Pilkington

IN an ideal world, Nadia Sawalha would have banished the word “diet” from the cover of her latest cookbook. But, says the author of Greedy Girl’s Diet, some rules have to be followed for marketing purposes.

“But I really believe that if you think you are on a diet, you are going to stuff your face at some point,” she says. “Unless you can feel like a normal person who sometimes eats a pudding and has a bit too much to drink, you will not succeed.”

The 48-year-old says a constant state of “dieting and denial” resulted in her being obese.

Eventually, she decided to eat as normally as possible (breakfast and pudding are key components of her day) and simply shave off the hidden calories here and there, as well as eating enough to fuel an active lifestyle. As a result, she shed three-and-a-half stone and is now a healthy size 12.

Sinless spaghetti bolognese

Serves 4

1tbsp olive oil

1 onion, peeled and finely chopped

3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

2 celery sticks, finely chopped

2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped

400g minced turkey or lean minced beef

1tbsp tomato puree

2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes

salt and freshly ground black pepper

200g mushrooms, chopped

2 bay leaves

200g wholewheat spaghetti

2tbsp freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Method:

Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy-based pan and fry the onion and garlic over a low heat until soft, but not coloured. Add the celery and carrots, reduce the heat and cook until soft. Remove the veg from the pan, put in the minced turkey or beef and fry over a medium heat until lightly browned.

Return the vegetables to the pan, add the tomato puree and stir for about a minute. Pour in the tomatoes, bring up to the bubble, season with salt and pepper and stir in the chopped mushrooms and bay leaves. Reduce the heat and simmer gently for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti according to packet instructions. Drain, toss it with the sauce and grate over the Parmesan.

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