Ragu Bolognese
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 2 hours
Serves: 6 people
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- Ingredients
- Method
- Notes
- Nutrition
Ragu Bolognese
- Prep time: 15 minutes
- Cook time: 2 hours
- Total time: 2 hours 15 minutes
- Serves: 6 people
When looking for comfort food little things can compare to pasta bolognese. You know how they say, when in doubt, ask the children. It's a theory that applies perfectly with pasta bolognese. Have you ever met a kid that doesn't love bolognese? I didn't think so, and if anyone knows whats comfort food its them. Because they still haven't developed taste buds to comprehend true flavours of food. They don't care about foams, sponges, molecular gastronomy, 5 days simmered demi-glace and what not. I think that's actually a landmark for people who work in professional kitchens. Expand your knowledge, pursue your potential, but don't forget at the end of the day that food isn't all about science and laboratories.
Ingredients
- 1 kg ground beef, (15-20% fat)
- 5 cloves garlic
- 500 gr onions, diced
- 100 gr celery root, diced
- 200 gr carrots, grated
- 400 gr canned plum tomatoes
- 0.5 liter dry red wine
- 0.3 liter prosecco wine liquor, or 0.1 l cognac
- 1.5 liter beef/chicken stock
- 2 bay leaves
- 8 cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 petal star anise
- 1/6 teaspoon cinnamon
Method
- 1)
Take a large heavy bottom pot and place on medium high heat. Pour in enough olive oil to cover the base and add in diced onions, celery and bay leaves. Dice the onions and the celery into small cubes, not larger than 1/2 a cm each so they blend well with the sauce, also keep in mind to maintain the size of each chunk closely the same should they cook evenly.
- 2)
Saute for a couple of minutes until softened but not browned on medium high heat, then add in your ground spices. It is always better to add your spice to the base of the meal rather to the liquid further on because this way, the mirepoix (diced onions, celery, carrots.. etc.) absorb all the spices giving your final dish a more fragrant and deeper taste.
- 3)
Now add in your grated carrot and continue sauteing. Don’t be too scared of burning your mirepoix. Ripe onions in a cooked meal will ruin your dish. Time is relevant when sauteeing, not every onion has the same structure and same volume of water, therefore every onion takes different time to cook. What you are looking for is a beautiful golden brown color with a tender feel, once taking a bite it should have no more ripeness.
- 4)
Now add your finely minced garlic, minced meat and season with salt.
- 5)
Rip the meat up slightly with a spatula and stir every once in a while.
- 6)
Cook the meat on medium high heat until no more liquid is leaking out.
- 7)
Once all the liquid has evaporated, pour in your alcohol. Bring the pot to a boil then simmer until approximately 1/3 of the volume has now reduced.
- 8)
Once reduced, pour in your stock and hand crushed tomatoes along with it’s juices. Again, bring the pot to a boil then turn down to a gentle simmer.
- 9)
Simmer gently for about 2 hours. Since this isn’t a ragu with chunks of meat so you won’t test the doneness by the meat tearing apart, just cook until you’re satisfied with how concentrated the flavour is and how thick you want the sauce to be.
- 10)
Of course, give it a final seasoning with salt and pepper, and of course more cloves/nutmeg, etc if needed by taste and serve with fresh cooked pasta.