Nothing beats a good old fashioned classic bolognese sauce. It’s something almost everyone enjoys and while it does take some time to let the sauce cook, it’s not terribly difficult or super time consuming to prepare and it really requires very little in the way of effort.
I love to make this on a day when I know I’m going to be at home so I can let it stew away for a while. I also love to make this for my freezer because it’s the kind of thing that can be used for an excellent emergency dinner when I don’t have time to go to the store or if I’m too wiped out to really cook.
In terms of serving, the obvious choice would be pasta or gnocchi. Choose any shape you like and dress it with as much sauce as you want. You can always freeze the rest of the sauce in portions or keep it in the fridge for leftovers. I love this with penne or short pastas, something longer like a linguine or tagliatelle or even on a cheese ravioli. It’s really just delicious with almost anything.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 40g unsalted butter
- 1 onion, very finely chopped or diced
- 1 celery stick, very finely chopped or diced
- 1 carrot, peeled and very finely chopped or diced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 400g minced steak
- 1 heaping tablespoon tomato purée
- 125ml dry white wine (a single serving bottle)
- 125ml of water
- Salt & pepper
- Pasta of your choice for serving
Method
- In a large, heavy based pan heat the olive oil and butter over medium heat.
- Stir in the onion, celery and carrot. Cook until soft and translucent. This will take about 20 minutes or so. Stir occasionally and be careful not to let anything burn.
- Stir in the garlic and cook for another minute more.
- Add the beef and use a wooden spoon to break it up. Increase the heat a bit to medium-high and cook for about 10 minutes until the meat is completely browned.
- Stir in the tomato purée and cook for another minute or two, stirring to coat the meat and incorporate everything.
- Pour in the wine and the 125ml of water. Stir and season with salt & pepper.
- Turn the heat to low, clamp on the lid and simmer for at least 1 1/2 hours, but longer if you have time. During the cooking the meat should remain moist and the sauce should be lightly bubbling. If necessary during the cooking time, top up the water if the sauce looks a little too dry.
- Serve hot over pasta or use in any recipe that requires a bolognese or ragù sauce.
