Bolognese Sauce [ragu]

Spaghetti Bolognese is probably the most popular pasta dish and, as such, it has lots of variations as everybody cooks it their own way. For a long time that was the case also for me but everything changed when an Italian lady taught me how to make it the real, Italian way. And the most important tips I learnt from her are:

1. you should use 3 times as many tomatoes as the amount of meat you are cooking your sauce with,
2. 3 quarters of a litre of dry red wine is not too much when you have half a kilogram of meat, and
3. cooking the ragu for at least 3 hours will ensure a rich, intense and wonderful flavor of the sauce.

I have used the below recipe for years now and don’t look for any improvements as it is already perfect. The only exception was when I wanted to make a vegetarian version of Bolognese recipe for the lasagna but even then I still based it on this one so it is equally delicious.

P.S. Since it takes 3 hours to cook this perfect Bolognese sauce, make loads of it and freeze some portions so they can be enjoyed later.

INGREDIENTS (for 8-10 portions):

1 onion, peeled,

1 carrot, peeled,

1 celery stalk,

2 garlic cloves, peeled,

2 tbsp olive oil,

250g minced beef,

250g minced pork,

4 tins (400g each) of tomatoes,

2 bay leaves,

0.5 tsp sugar,

750ml dry red wine,

salt and pepper.

METHOD:

1. Either very finely chop or process in a food processor the onion, carrot, celery stalk and garlic.
2. In a big heavy pot warm up the olive oil, add the chopped vegetables and fry on a medium heat stirring often for 3-5 minutes.
3. Increase the heat to high and add the two types of minced meat; fry stirring constantly till the meat is no longer pink.
4. Add all of the tomatoes, bay leaves, sugar, some salt and pepper (you will adjust the taste at the end so don’t add too much at this stage), and half a cup of wine; once everything starts to boil, decrease the temperature to low and cook for 3 hours.
5. During the cooking time stir the sauce at least every half an hour to break any bigger pieces of meat or tomatoes and to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pot. Each time you stir, add half a cup of the red wine till you have used all of it.
6. After the 3 hours of cooking check the seasoning. The sauce should be thick and without lumps of meat. If there are any, you can break them with a potato masher.
7. Serve the sauce with your choice of pasta cooked al dente (the best is not spaghetti but wider type like tagliatelle or pappardelle) and grated Parmesan cheese.

Read More

Vegetarian Lasagne with a Mushroom Bolognese Sauce

Actually my daughters made lasagna for the first time in our home a few years ago. I was obviously with them supervising and helping where necessary, but they did vast majority of the preparation and cooking themselves. Their lasagne was really delicious so they made it a number of times but it had one weakness: it wasn’t vegetarian. And since one of my girls stopped eating meat two years ago, I was faced with a challenge to try and come up with a vegetarian lasagna recipe for a meal that would taste almost exactly the same as the meat version.

I decided to use a recipe for Bolognese sauce but - similar to Vegetarian Chilli Con Carne – I replaced the meat ingredient with mushrooms. Again, it proved to be a very good idea as the sauce tasted delicious and I would almost say – meaty!

INGREDIENTS (for 6-8 portions)

2 tbsp olive oil,

1 big onion,

3 garlic cloves,

2 carrots,

750g mushrooms,

2 tins of tomatoes, (I prefer whole ones but chopped tomatoes are fine too),

250ml red wine,

1 bay leaf,

0.5 tsp sugar,

salt and pepper,

lasagna sheets (number depends on the size and shape of a dish), preferably a type that doesn’t have to be precooked,

25g grated Parmesan cheese.

Béchamel sauce:

5 tbsp olive oil,

75g flour,

600ml milk,

25g grated Parmesan cheese,

0.5 tsp grated nutmeg,

Salt and pepper.

METHOD:

1. Finely chop, grate or process onion, garlic and carrots.
2. On a medium heat warm up the 2 tbsp olive oil in a big frying pan, add the vegetables and fry stirring occasionally for 5 minutes.
3. Finely chop the mushrooms (you can also process them but be careful not to over-process them) and add to the vegetables, fry for 5-7 minutes until the liquid evaporates.
4. Add the canned tomatoes, red wine, bay leaf, sugar and a bit of salt and pepper, stir and on a medium heat cook for 40 minutes, stirring from time to time, till the sauce thickens. When the sauce is ready, check the taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.
5. In the meantime prepare the béchamel: in a heavy-based pot warm up the olive oil, add the flour and stir it quickly and very well. Pour the milk (cold), vigorously whisk it and bring it to a simmer on a low heat, season well (salt, pepper and nutmeg). Constantly stir the sauce till it boils and thickens. Add the Parmesan cheese, check the seasoning again, adjust if necessary.
6. Pre-cook the lasagna sheets (if they require pre-cooking): use a big pot and cook only 2-3 sheets at a time so they don’t stick together. If you don’t use them straight away, once cooked put them on plates making sure they don’t touch each other to prevent them from sticking together.
7. Preheat an oven to 180 Celsius degrees.
8. Put a quarter of béchamel sauce on the bottom of a square or rectangular oven proof dish*, cover it completely with lasagna sheets. If necessary trim them so they match the size and shape of the dish.
9. Spread half of the mushroom sauce over the lasagna sheets, then spread the second quarter of the béchamel and cover with some more lasagna sheets; repeat one more time.
10. Cover the top layer of lasagna sheets with the rest of the béchamel and sprinkle with grated parmesan, put to the hot oven and bake for 30 minutes.

* I used 22x30 cm dish and for this amount of ingredients, I wouldn't recommend using a bigger one as the lasagna would be too thin.

Read More