Rich ragu

By BBC Good Food team

Recipe Rating Static

By BBC Good Food team

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Prep: 10 mins Cook: 1 hr, 45 mins plus chilling

Easy

Serves 4

A rich, versatile meat sauce: serve it Bolognese-style with spaghetti or use it as a base for lasagne or moussaka

Freezable

Nutrition: per serving

kcal705
fat15g
saturates6g
carbs79g
sugars9g
fibre7g
protein54g
salt0.9g

Ingredients
Method

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil

Olive oil
ol-iv oyl
Probably the most widely-used oil in cooking, olive oil is pressed from fresh olives. It's…
1 onion, halved and finely chopped

Onion
un-yun
Onions are endlessly versatile and an essential ingredient in countless recipes. Native to Asia…
1 celery stick, finely diced
1 large carrot, finely diced

Carrot
ka-rot
The carrot, with its distinctive bright orange colour, is one of the most versatile root…
600g pack minced beef steak

Steak
Stayk
Steak is essentially a boneless thick or thin slice of red meat, cut across the grain of a large…
3 tbsp tomato purée
2 garlic cloves, finely grated
2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
150ml red wine (or use extra beef stock)
500ml beef stock
400g spaghetti
50g grated parmesan, plus extra to serve (optional)

Parmesan
parm-ee-zan
Parmesan is a straw-coloured hard cheese with a natural yellow rind and rich, fruity flavour. It…
side salad, to serve

Method

Heat the oil in a large pan and add the onion, celery and carrot. Fry over a medium heat for 10 mins, stirring now and then, until softened and starting to colour.
Stir in the mince and cook, breaking up any clumps of meat with a wooden spoon, until browned.
Add the tomato purée, garlic and thyme, and cook for 1-2 mins more. Pour in the wine, if using, and increase the heat to boil off most of the alcohol. Reduce the heat, stir in the stock and season. Cover with a tight-fitting lid and leave to cook gently for 1 hr-1 hr 15 mins until the meat is tender and the sauce has thickened.
Remove the lid and continue cooking for 15 mins. Meanwhile, cook the pasta following pack instructions. Reserve a mugful of the cooking water, then drain the spaghetti and add to the ragu with the Parmesan. Toss well and add a little pasta water to help the sauce coat the spaghetti. Serve with a side salad and extra cheese, if you like.

Recipe Tip
Ingredient swaps
This recipe uses minced beef but you can use pork, or half of each. If you'd rather not add red wine, replace with extra beef stock. Smoked bacon also makes a tasty addition.

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Depeyre

13th May, 2020

The soffritto cellery and carotts onion excellent. I added tomatoes and stock other wise it would be the same as my shepwrds pie mix lol. I think a good ragu needs tomatoes as well. Also i used Oregano, Thyme, Marjoram, Rosemarry, Sage and Parsely + Dried red peppers otherwise known as Italian Seasoning. Thyme again on it own us like too anglo version.

beckyb

7th Dec, 2019

Awful. Followed the recipe to the letter, no tinned tomatoes in a bolognese sauce? Very bland, tomato purée is not enough to make a ragu. The red wine added no depth of flavour. Very disappointing

rebeccaj28

16th Jun, 2019

love this recipe - very easy and delicious!

mhchevalier

29th Oct, 2018

I have made bolognese for my family before, but this was much nicer with a richer flavour. I don't have much experience and this recipe was easy to use. My only complaint is that the video would not work for me and I could not find mince that was 600g. Next time, I will try it with rice.

marcb.

11th Nov, 2016

hey good recipe, loved it. But i changed it abit and i really think it does alot to it in terms of flavour. i use 300g of minced pork and 300g minced beef, And after browning the meat, i add about 500 ml of fat free milk, reduce that, with open lid, add about 1l of stock. Keep reducing and adding water. I normally cook my bolognese for about 4-5 hours.

aussiechick

29th Oct, 2016

this is so good, best Bolognese sauce I've ever made & so easy. I've made it many times & vary it sometimes eg. substituted half the stock with some passata that needed using up, also makes brilliant shepherd's pie (ran out of pasta that night)