Servings: 8
Ingredients
- 1 packet of smoked lardons or diced pancetta
- 2 large chopped onion
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 4 carrots diced
- 6 celery sticks diced
- 2 kg minced beef/veal/pork 1/3 of each
- 1 beef stock cube
- 1 tsp chilli flakes optional
- 2 tins of chopped tomatoes
- 3 tbsp tomato paste
- Ketchup
- 1 bottle of fully bodied red wine
- 2 tbsp sugar
- Salt and Pepper
- 2 tbsp Italian mixed herbs
- Bunch of fresh basil optional
- Olive Oil
Instructions
- Fry smoked lardons in a bit of light olive oil until the fat comes out over a medium heat
- Add the chopped onions, carrots, garlic, and celery and turn the heat down after about 5 minutes, you now want to sweat this veg mix (make sure it doesnt brown) until the onions are semi-transparent (after about 15-20 mins) and and then remove the veg from the pot and set aside.
- Using the same pot, turn up the heat and add a bit of light olive oil then brown the mince in small batches, breaking up the lumps as you go. Add more olive oil as needed between batches.
- Once the last batch of mince has been browned put all the mince back in (you might want to pour away any excess oil first) along with the sweated down veg mix.
- Add the beef stock cube, tins of tomatoes, tomate paste, italian mixed herbs, chilli flakes (optional) and a good squeeze of ketchup. Give the whole mix a good stir and mix.
- Now comes the tricky bit, adding the wine. To start add enough wine so it just covers the mix by a 1cm and give it a good stir.
- Turn the heat up to med-high and bring the mixture to the boil.
- Once boiling turn down to a very low heat so the mixture is just simmering with a bubble here and there. Keeping an eye on it so it doesn't burn (catch on the bottom).
- Let the mixture bubble away and slowly add some wine about 1/2 a cup at a time every 30mins (give it a stir too), let it simmer away and when the meat gets a bit dry add some more wine, about 3/4 of a bottle in all. Dont swim it in wine just a bit at a time!
- Cook for a good 3 to 4 hours slowly simmering. The longer you simmer the creamer the bolognese will get, if you taste as you go along you will notice a change in the meat and at that point it will be ready.
- Make sure you leave a good 30 minutes between the last wine you add and when you want to serve, otherwise you will get a nasty winey taste. Also you can cook the liquid down a bit more depending on how wet you like you bolognase.
- When its done, nice and creamy looking, have a taste and if it's a little sour because of the tomatoes, add a little sugar (or more ketchup). And then season to taste.
- Roughly chop-up a hand full of fresh basil and mix in about 5 minutes before serving. (optional)
- Cook some pasta and put A with B and enjoy!
Notes
The making of good spaghetti bolognese is a passion, it should take more than an hour to cooking, e.g. not like we did in my student days… This recipe is continously updated with tips and tricks I have found over the years to make this the perfect bolognese recipe. Please enjoy and let me know what you think.
Tips and Tricks
- The longer you take to cook the smoother and better it is!
- The red wine...remember... if you wont drink it, DONT cook with it!
- Make the full recipe and freeze the left-overs (the larger the quantity the better the bubbling and simmering it for a fuller flavour)
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
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