Ragù alla bolognese

Ragù alla bolognese

Source: Giorgio Locatelli 'Made in Italy: Food and Stories'

This is the most famous Italian ragù, which I love with gnocchi.

In the restaurant we cook this in the oven in big pans at about 120°C, gas ½, so it just simmers, for about the same length of time as if you cooked it on the stove – if you have a big enough oven and big enough pans, you can do the same.

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Makes enough for 8

• 2kg minced beef, preferably neck

• 5 tablespoons olive oil

• 2 carrots, finely chopped

• 1 celery stalk, finely chopped

• 2 onions, finely chopped

• sprig of rosemary and sprig of sage, tied together for a bouquet garni

• 2 garlic cloves

• 1 bottle of red wine

• 1 tablespoon tomato paste

• 1 litre tomato passata

• salt and pepper

To serve:
pasta, preferably pappardelle (page 338), tagliatelle or short pasta
freshly grated pecorino cheese

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Take the meat out of the fridge and lay it on a tray and let it come to room temperature, so that it will sear, rather than ‘boil’ when it goes into the pan.

Heat the oil in a wide-bottomed saucepan, add the vegetables, herbs and whole garlic cloves, and sweat over a high heat for 5–8 minutes without allowing it to colour (you will need to keep stirring).

Season the meat with salt and pepper and add to the pan of vegetables, making sure that the meat is covering the base of the pan. Leave for about 5–6 minutes, so that the meat seals underneath and heats through completely, before you start stirring (otherwise it will ooze that protein and liquid and it will ‘boil’ rather than sear). Take care, though, that the vegetables don’t burn – add a little more oil, if necessary, to stop this happening.

Stir the meat and vegetables every few minutes for about 10–12 minutes, until the meat starts to stick to the bottom of the pan. At this point, the meat is ready to take the wine.

Add the wine and let it reduce right down to virtually nothing, then add the tomato paste and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring all the time.

Add the passata with 1 litre of water. Bring to the boil, then turn down to a simmer and cook for about 1½ hours, adding a little extra water if necessary from time to time, until you have a thick sauce.

When you are ready to serve the ragù, cook your pasta (preferably pappardelle, tagliatelle or short pasta) and drain, reserving the cooking water. Add the pasta to the ragù and toss well, adding some of the cooking water, if necessary, to loosen the sauce. Serve with freshly grated pecorino.