Bolognese Sauce
A classic beef bolognese that's slow cooked, served with bucatini and is totally delicious.
Servings: 4
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker optional
Ingredients
For The Bolognese Sauce
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 2 small carrots finely chopped
- 2 stalks celery finely chopped
- 3 sprigs thyme or more if you like it. i like it.
- 6 oz tomato paste
- 2 cloves garlic chopped
- 3 bay leaves
- salt
- black pepper
To Serve
- 1 lb pasta whatever you like, I used bucatini
- parmigiano-reggiano grated
- parsley finely chopped
Instructions
- Add your meat to a hot pan, season with salt and cook till everything is nicely browned. Like, actually browned, not just un-pink. BROWN!
- Strain off any excess fat from the pan. This will depend on the fat content in your meat to start and you can really leave as much as you want, but the meat will let off more fat as it cooks, so you’ve been warned.
- Next, using a food processor, finely chop your carrots, celery and onion. Add them to the pan and cook them along with the meat until the veg is slightly browned as well. And, be sure to season with some salt again too.
- Once the veg is browned you can go ahead and add in the tomato paste. And like before, cook till it’s browned. It will go from a deep red color, to a burnt rust color, that’s when you know you are good to move on. And, just make sure to constantly stir the tomato paste, it’s got a high sugar content and you don’t want it to burn. Browning yes, blackening no.
- If you’re using wine, add it in here. Scrape, stir and reduce by about half. Otherwise next step…
- Cover everything with water, by about an inch and add in your aromatics. Here I used garlic, thyme and bay leaves. Rosemary is also nice, I just didn’t have any. Stir it all together and make sure to scrape off any bits stuck to the bottom of the pan at this point. And I would suggest tasting for seasoning again here.
- Next you just need to let it stew. Either cook it on low heat for about 3 hours on the stove or 40 minutes in a pressure cooker and let it naturally release pressure. Once you’ve finished with this long portion of the cooking, test for seasoning again, and reduce the sauce if needed.
- Then, just cook up your pasta of choice. I usually use spaghetti, but opted for some bucatini this time. Combine the pasta, sauce and a generous handful of grated parmesan together so everything is good, and evenly coated. Top with parsley if you want, more cheese and eat up!
Video
Did You Make This Recipe?
Leave a comment with your thoughts or share your version on Instagram by tagging @TheMostHungry. I’d love to see how you made it your own!