Ragu alla bolognese - Spaghetti Bolognese Recipes

Cooking Time: 45 mins - 1 hr
Serves: 4   

Ingredients

2 tbsp vegetable oil or olive oil
1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 sticks of celery, finely chopped
2 medium carrots, peeled and finely
chopped
500g beef mince
100g chopped rindless pancetta
1 garlic clove, peeled and chopped
100ml red wine
300g jar Dallaglio by Sacla' Bolognese Sauce or 300g of Sacla' Italian Tomato Sauce
400g can chopped tomatoes
1 tsp tomato purée
1 beef stock cube
bouquet garni (a bay leaf, a few parsley
stalks, a few sprigs of thyme)
dash of Worcestershire sauce
pinch of demerara sugar
salt and freshly ground black pepper
400g spaghettini
basil leaves
freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions

Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a large saucepan and fry the onion, celery

and carrots - this base mixture is what the Italians call the soffrito. Cook gently until softened.

In a separate pan, heat the remaining tbsp oil and cook the mince, turning it every now and then until browned and golden. In another pan, dry fry the pancetta - you won’t need any oil as pancetta has enough fat in it already. When the soffrito has softened, stir in the garlic and cook for 1 min.

Drain the mince through a sieve that’s resting over a bowl. Add it to the soffrito. Do the same with the pancetta and add it to the pan. Discard the fat from both.

Add 50ml wine to each pan in which the mince and pancetta have been cooking to deglaze the pans, then add the juices to the pan with the mince mixture.

Add the Dallaglio by Sacla’ Bolognese sauce or the Sacla' Italian Tomato Sauce, the chopped tomatoes, the tomato purée and the beef stock cube with the bouquet garni and 200ml water to the mince. Stir together with the Worcestershire sauce and the sugar. Season well and bring to a gentle simmer, cooking, uncovered, for 30 mins.

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Add the spaghettini and cook until al dente. Add a ladleful of pasta water to the ragù - this helps to loosen the mixture and bring all the ingredients together.

Drain the pasta and return it to the pan. Add the sauce and toss everything together with a few freshly chopped basil leaves.

Divide among four bowls and serve immediately with a little grated Parmesan.

Photo from My Italian Family Cookbook by Lawrence Dallaglio published by Simon& Schuster Illustrated May 2011.