Thread: Ragù alla bolognese

I find that this is quite a good recipe for Ragù:


Makes enough for 8

* 2kg minced beef, preferably neck
* 5 tablespoons olive oil
* 2 carrots, finely chopped
* 1 celery stalk, finely chopped
* 2 onions, finely chopped
* sprig of rosemary and sprig of sage, tied together for a bouquet
garni
* 2 garlic cloves
* 1 bottle of red wine
* 1 tablespoon tomato paste
* 1 litre tomato passata
* salt and pepper

To serve:

* pasta, preferably pappardelle, tagliatelle or short
pasta

(I don't agree with this bit - spaghetti is best!)

* freshly grated pecorino cheese

Take the meat out of the fridge and lay it on a tray and let it come to
room temperature, so that it will sear, rather than ‘boil’ when it goes
into the pan.

Heat the oil in a wide-bottomed saucepan, add the vegetables, herbs and
whole garlic cloves, and sweat over a high heat for 5–8 minutes without
allowing it to colour (you will need to keep stirring).

Season the meat with salt and pepper and add to the pan of vegetables,
making sure that the meat is covering the base of the pan. Leave for
about 5–6 minutes, so that the meat seals underneath and heats through
completely, before you start stirring (otherwise it will ooze protein
and liquid and it will ‘boil’ rather than sear). Take care, though, that
the vegetables don’t burn – add a little more oil, if necessary, to stop
this happening.

Stir the meat and vegetables every few minutes for about 10–12 minutes,
until the meat starts to stick to the bottom of the pan. At this point,
the meat is ready to take the wine.

Add the wine and let it reduce right down to virtually nothing, then add
the tomato paste and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring all the
time.

Add the passata with 1 litre of water. Bring to the boil, then turn down
to a simmer and cook for about 11.5 hours, adding a little extra water
if necessary from time to time, until you have a thick sauce.

When you are ready to serve the ragù, put it back into a pan and heat
through. Cook your pasta (preferably pappardelle, tagliatelle or short
pasta) and drain, reserving the cooking water. Add the pasta to the ragù
and toss well, adding some of the cooking water, if necessary, to loosen
the sauce. Serve with freshly grated pecorino.