Ragu alla Bolognese

Everyone can make a Bolognese, right? Um, well... Yes, but only if you're prepared to do it right. Which takes time, patience and care, to bring out the sweetness of the soffritto vegetables and to allow the meat, red wine and tomatoes to cook out together until the flavours have melded into one happy, harmonious whole. 

We start by cooking down onions, carrots, celery and garlic until soft and sweet before adding the meat - pork and veal mince is traditional. We add a splash of red wine and diced tomatoes, along with herbs like thyme and bay leaves, and simmer for hours until thick and rich but gentle, rather than brash and tomato-y.

Pork and veal mince, crushed tomato, red wine, tomato paste, garlic, onion, celery, carrot, thyme, bay leaves, salt, olive oil.

Serve with pasta or polenta and grated parmesan. On the side, you could serve a salad of mixed leaves, including some bitter ones like radicchio or endive, and finely sliced raw vegetables (fennel, radish, etc), dressed with oil and lemon, salt and pepper.

LOW CARB: Serve with zucchini spirals - rather than blanching which can make them soggy, we like them warmed through by tossing in a pan with a bit of olive oil and salt. Or you could try super low carb shirataki noodles - some supermarkets sell them as spaghetti or fettucine.