Bolognaise pasta sauce

Recently I am inspired to cook and write a recipe on a bolognese sauce after making a trip to Italy. After living in London, Italian food is really awesome. Ragu alla Bolognese is the Italian name where it is originated and made famous from Bologna. The place where meat seems to important to their cuisine in that region. The type of meat used in the sauce does vary with region and so does the ingredients that are put in it. Some use pine nuts in them. To shop for decent quality beef if you are in the UK one of the places to shop in Waitrose. Here is the link.

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For this recipe I use a mixture of all sorts to make it a nice flavoursome sauce. Serve it with spaghetti pasta and any type of pasta you fancy. Fusilli or even penne.

This sauce is great to cook in a big batch as it can be kept in the freezer afterwards. It’s a healthy homemade ready meal to go.

Ingredients

25 grms/ 1 oz dried ceps or porcini mushroom

1 tbsp butter

50 grms/ 1 3/4 oz pancetta, diced

1 small onion, minced

1 small garlic clove

2 small carrots, minced

2 celery sticks, minced

300 grms/ 11 oz minced beef

1 pinch sugar

1 tbsp tomato puree

125 mls/ 4 fl oz red wine

250 grms/ 9 oz canned tomato puree

salt

freshly ground pepper

freshly grated nutmeg

Method

Soak the ceps/ mushroom in 125 mls/ 4 fl oz lukewarm water for 20 minutes.

Melt the butter in a frying pan and fry the pancetta in it. Add the onion and garlic and fry until the onion is translucent. there should be also an aromatic smell of garlic. Then stir in the diced carrots and celery and cook for a few minutes, stirring frequently.

Mix in the minced beef and brown it, by stirring constantly. Season with salt, pepper, nutmeg and a pinch of sugar. Stir in the tomato puree and cook for a minute or two, then add the red wine. Mix in the tomato puree.

Finely slice the ceps and add them to the sauce. Pour in the soaking water through a fine sieve into the sauce. thicken the sauce by cooking it on a low heat for 1 hour.