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Bolognaise Sauce Served with Spaghetti or Tagliatelli
This renowned dish, although not
really found in classic Italian cooking, is to be seen on almost every Italian
restaurant menu outside of the country. It is versatile
These quantities are for 4 to 5 people, so calculate as required, but remember that any left-over sauce can be frozen for later use.
Sauce Extra virgin olive oil 1 celery branch (optional) 2 medium sized onions 1 carrot 1 extra medium sized onion 1 star anise 400g minced beef 200g pork loin 10 button mushrooms (quartered) 300ml red wine 5 garlic cloves Large spring of fresh thyme 2 bay leaves 2 small hot chilli peppers (dried or fresh) Salt & pepper 200 ml Beef stock Worcester sauce 10-15 pitted and halved black olives (optional) 1 large can of peeled plum tomatoes 2 dessertspoons tomato puree or 75ml tomato coulis (reduced fresh ripe tomatoes, peeled and de-seeded) 2 tablespoons fresh parsley 2 tablespoons fresh basil Butter
In a separate frying pan, caramelise the extra onion (finely sliced) in olive oil with the star anise to a deep brown. When browned, remove the star anise and add the onions into the main pot. Deglaze the pan with a dash of red wine and add into the pan. Deglazing is simply using the wine to help lift anything remaining in the pan by scraping with a wooden spoon then reducing to burn off the alcohol.
Finely dice the pork into small cubes of less than 1 cm.
Again, in a separate large frying pan, heat about 100ml of olive oil and add in the pork. Next, add in the minced beef by squeezing through your fingers. Stir around so that the meat cooks evenly. When golden brown, add the meat into the main pot then deglaze the frying pan again and add the reduced mixture into the pot also.
Again, in a separate frying pan, into some olive oil, add in the quartered mushrooms and thinly sliced chilli. After the mushrooms have first absorbed the oil then started to release it, add them into the main pot.
Bring the main pot up to the boil and pour in the red wine. Boil and reduce down to a thick sauce.
While the mixture is reducing, use a garlic press to mince the garlic. Create a 'bouquet garni' by tying together the thyme and bay leaf. Add into the saucepan with salt and pepper and mix well.
Pour in the beef stock along with a couple of dashes of Worcester sauce and the halved pitted black olives.
Reduce the mixture once again to about half the volume of liquid.
Add in the canned tomatoes and tomato puree (or the coulis), then bring to the boil after mixing fully.
Reduce the heat to very low and leave to bubble away for about 2 hours with the lid on. Stir and taste at various stages and re-season towards the end of cooking if required. If there is too much liquid towards the end, remove the lid to allow the sauce to reduce some more. It can be cooked for less time if you prefer, but the closer you can get to 2 hours, the richer and more complete the taste.
5 minutes before serving, chop the
parsley and basil and add into the sauce with a knob of butter. Either fresh or dried pasta can be used. Both are placed in boiling water with 2 spoons of olive oil in it. The cooking times will be indicated on the packet.
If you prefer to make your own pasta, then you can find a great guide with lots of pictures here or several techniques can be found here.
Serving Cover the centre of your plates with
the cooked spaghetti or tagliatelli. Carefully ladle the sauce in the
centre of the pasta bed (1 or 2 ladles will suffice). Serve with a sprig
of parsley on the side along with a bowl of grated or shaved parmesan cheese (parmigiano
reggiano) that can be sprinkled on top by each guest according to
their tastes. The image below shows the sauce served on a bed of
tagliatelli with shavings of parmesan cheese on top.
Alternatives - This base sauce can be used with many forms of pasta. It works well with penne (mixed in with the pasta), can be used as the tomato sauce layer in a lasagne and goes well as a sauce to accompany a cheese filled ravioli.
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and very simple - the
sauce can be easily frozen, so serves as a great quick meal from the freezer
when you don't have time to prepare something. Also it can be prepared
well in advance then re-heated when ready to eat. There are many variations on
the ingredients used, although the basic meat and tomato combination is
ever-present. This particular recipe is one that has been developed over
many years of testing various combinations of ingredients.