Ragu Bolognese
Serves 8
Prep Time: 30 MINS
Cooking time: 3 hours
Ingredients
500 g Beef mince
500 g Pork mince
4 tbsp olive oil
2 White onions finely diced
2 Carrots finely diced
3 Stalks celery finely diced
4 Garlic cloves crushed
2 tbsp Tomato paste
1/2 cup White wine
700 g Passata
4 Tomatoes peeled and diced
1 cup water
500 g Pasta of your choice
1/2 cup Pasta water
Pecorino Romano grated
Method
Season your mince with salt and pepper. In a large pot on a high heat, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and bring to the heat. Add half of the mince into the pan and fry for three minutes, breaking the mince down with your spoon and stirring occasionally. You want to cook your mince in batches so it does not overcrowd the pot and broil. Take your mince out of the pot with a slotted spoon and repeat this step. Don’t worry if your meat is still a little pink and not cooked through as it will continue to cook in the sauce. This step ensures we are building flavour and texture in the dish. Take the second bath of mince out of the pot with all of its juices and set to the side.
In the same pot, add two tablespoons of olive oil and bring to the heat. Turn the heat down to low and cook the onions, carrots, celery and garlic for 12 - 15 minutes or until they become fragrant and translucent. Turn the heat to medium - high and add the tomato paste to the pot. Cook for 3 minutes stirring quite often until it turns a deep red colour and is almost sticking to the pan. Deglaze the plan with white wine and stir until 80% of the liquid has been absorbed.
Add your passata, tomatoes, water, and salt and pepper to the pot and stir well. Add your cooked mince and all of its delicious juices and give it a stir. Bring your ragu to the boil and then turn the heat down to low and leave to simmer for 2 - 2.5 hours with the lid off. Taste your sauce as it cooks to ensure it is seasoned to your liking. You may want to add more sugar, salt or pepper.
While the sauce is cooking, bring a large pot of heavily salted water to the boil. If using fresh pasta, cook for 2 minutes or until very al dente. If using packet pasta, follow the instructions on the back of the pasta packet for al dente pasta and drain your pasta 2 minutes before the suggested cooking time as it will continue to cook when it’s stirred through the sauce. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta water.
Combine your drained pasta and pasta water to the sauce and stir through on a low heat for 2 minutes. Serve with a sprinkling of pecorino romano and as much Bippi Italian style chilli oil as you can handle.
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