Spaghetti Bolognese

This recipe is my family’s favourite of all the recipes that I make. I make a huge batch every month or so and then freeze it as shareable portions in freezer bags. On busy days we defrost and it makes dinner a simple affair either on a baked potato or over pasta. Our babysitter also gets a portion (on date nights)! Try this as the meat in a lasagne too.

Ingredients

• 2Kg of the leanest minced beef you can find (5%)
• 1Kg of pork mince
• 3 big [onions diced finely](tips.html#dice_onion
• 5 decent sized carrots chopped into cubes
• half bunch celery chopped finely
• Full clove of garlic, chopped finely
• 500g of mushrooms
• 2 cans of chopped tomatoes
• 1 ltr of good beef stock
• 1/2 bottle of ruby port (hell yeah)
• a good squirt of tomato puree
• a decent sprig of rosemary chopped finely
• three bay leaves
• baby sweetcorn chopped
• a bottle of red wine (cheap plonk is fine)
• a good dash of Worcestershire Sauce

The cook

1. Start by cooking the beef and pork mince in a deep frying pan with a little oil. We want to get the meat brown and the fat cooked off. Drain the fat away so you are left with the lean cooked meat. Put the cooked mince to one side as you will add to the bolognese in a moment.
2. I tend to prepare onions, celery, carrots, garlic, mushrooms ahead of the cook as it cooks quicker than I can prepare.
3. Heat up some oil in the pot (at this point I have the pot at a high heat)
4. Add the onions, carrots, celery and garlic once the oil is up to temperature and stir them to stop them sticking. You want to cook them until they have softened.
5. Add herbs into the mix now so they start to infuse
6. Add the mushrooms and keep stirring until the mushrooms have softened
7. Now add in the chopped tomatoes, stock, the minced beef, the ruby port and the tomato puree
8. Turn the heat down to a low level for simmering
9. At this point it is all about getting the rest of the ingredients added:
   • chopped rosemary
   • bay leaves
   • baby sweetcorn
10. Now let this simmer for 20 mins
11. Now add the bottle of wine and let this simmer with no lid on the pot
12. As soon as this has reduced (expect an hour or so) it should be ready to serve with pasta and topped with cheddar cheese 1If you can plan ahead and let it simmer for 3-4 hours then top up with wine/port as it reduces you are in for a real treat.
13. Remove the bay leaves as they can make it taste too strong

Let this cool off overnight with the lid on, then bag it up and freeze: remember to write on the bag what it is…