Slow Cooked Bolognese Ragu – the best way to cook a Bolognese Ragu is to use high quality ingredients and cook it low and slow for several hours. Slow cooking the beef mince along with vegetables and seasonings brings out the flavours and enhances the richness of the beef and tomatoes. I have used good quality steak mince for my Slow Cooked Bolognese Ragu. I don’t like the vegetables to be chunky in my Bolognese Ragu, so I chop them really finely. If your knife skills aren’t great, use a food processor or grater. I also really enjoy a similar dish, made with tougher cuts of beef such as beef shin, like in my Pulled Beef Ragu with Homemade Garlic Doughballs.
Recipe
Serves 4
Difficulty Rating: Rookie
Ingredients:
- 1 onion, very finely chopped
- 1 carrot, very finely chopped
- 1 stick celery, very finely chopped
- 5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- Tablespoon dried basil
- 500g steak mince
- Heaped tablespoon tomato purée
- 300ml red wine
- A couple sprigs of thyme or rosemary
- 500ml passata or tin of chopped tomatoes
- Worcestershire sauce
- Salt and black pepper
- Olive oil
- The rind of a parmesan wedge, if you have
- Pasta, and grated Parmesan to serve
Method:
- Add about 60ml olive oil to a large pan. Fry the onion, carrot and celery until soft over a medium heat until soft, around 5 minutes.
- Add the garlic and dried basil and cook for one minute.
- Add the steak mince and break up with a wooden spoon. Sear until browned all over.
- Stir in the tomato purée for a minute or so, until coating the beef.
- Pour in the red wine and allow to reduce by half.
- Add the whole lot into a slow cooker. Tip in the passata along with a good glug of Worcestershire sauce. Season generously with salt and lots of black pepper. Add the herbs and Parmesan rind, if using. Cook for 7-9 hours on low.
- If you don’t have a slow cooker, simmer on the hob on the lowest heat for 4-5 hours. You might need to top up with a little water if it looks dry.
- Once cooked, check the seasoning. Serve with pasta and grated Parmesan on top.
