Bolognese Sauce

This is one of my earliest food memories. I can’t rememeber exactly when my Mam first cooked it for me, but it was in the times when spaghetti could only be bought in delicatessens, and it came in long, long, long blue paper packets almost as tall as me. It was always a great comfort food, and it was a regular Friday night tea when I came home from boarding school for the weekend. Purists will no doubt beat their brows on reading this one, as strictly speaking it isn’t Bolognese, just a meat ragu, but bollocks to them.

There are few smells more enticing than a slowly simmering pot of Bolognese, and indeed slow is the key here. There is nothing wrong with knocking up a quick version in forty minutes, but something happens to a Bolognese around the two hour mark, giving it an elusive smokiness and colour. I usually cook it for about three hours, and this is what I do..

  • 500g minced beef
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1 carrot, chopped
  • 1 stick celery, chopped
  • 2 mushrooms, choopped small
  • 2 rashers smoked bacon, chopped
  • 2tbs mixed herbs
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1tsp grated nutmeg
  • 2 beef Oxo cubes
  • 2tbs tomato puree
  • 1 tin chopped tomatoes
  • pinch of sugar
  • salt/pepper
  • a good slug of red wine, or white

In a generous but not excessive amount of olive oil, sweat down the onion, carrot, garlic and celery until soft, about 20 minutes. Add the bacon and mushrooms and saute for another few minutes. Then add the beef and saute till well browned. Next add the wine, the seasonings and the tomato puree and mix well, finally chucking in the tin of tommytoes. Bring to the boil, then turn down low and cover, leaving it to look after itself for at least two hours. All you need to do is check the liquid, but this sauce should not be runny. Like I say, three hours will do it no harm at all.

Serve with spaghetti dressed in butter, black pepper and a bit of chopped flatleaf parsley, along with copious amounts of garlic bread. I’ve tasted it, it’s the future (apologies to P. Kaye).