Ragu

Or spag bog if you prefer...

Taking inspiration from BB I persuaded Roz into letting me put her Bolognese recipe online.

The recipe itself draws a bit of inspiration from the Heston Blumenthal book admittedly. She didn't use his exact recipe as things like using star anise, and having minced oxtail and diced pork shoulder for the meat didn't strike us as that appealing. I think that's often the best bit about cook books, adjusting the recipe to suit yourself. The main thing she took from his recipe was using a soffrito as a base. Neither of us are big fans of celery so it hadn't occurred to us before but it gives it a really authentic Italian flavour.

Anyway, here goes, this should do 6-7 decent sized servings (or feed a family of 3-4 and leave enough to make a lasagne for later in the week).

1 kg of Mince (half steak mince, half pork mince)
8 sticks of celery - chopped into extremely fine pieces, your aiming for the sort of size you'd chop garlic into.
2 large carrots, again chopped into the smallest pieces you can manage
2 onions chopped
7 cloves of garlic
1/2 bottle of dry white wine
3 tins of tomatoes
2 bouquet garni
4-5 bay leaves
20-30 rammes fresh basil
3 tsp sugar
Salt and Pepper

Fry the celery, carrot, onion, basil and three of the garlic cloves chopped finely in the olive oil until they soften and start to really smell nice.

Add the tomatoes, sugar, bouquet garni and bay leaves and leave to simmer.

Brown the mince and the remaining 4 cloves of garlic chopped in a heavy pan making sure that all the mince is in contact with the bottom of the pan even if this means doing it in batches .Roz does it in 4 250g batches with a clove of garlic in each. When well browned transfer each batch to the pan with the veg mix.

Once all the mince has been added de-glaze the pan with the white wine, simmer it until it has reduced by half making sure it takes all the left over meat and garlic with it and add it to the meat and sauce.

Cook it through slowly for a minimum of 2 hours, more if you have the time available.

Cook up some good pasta, home made if you make your own, or a good Italian one such as Pasta Di Aldo or Rustichella d'Abbruzzo and serve together.

Enjoy