Spaghetti Bolognese

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large heavy-bottomed saucepan or casserole
• •Large pan for boiling pasta
• •Wooden spoon
• •Box grater for the cheddar

Instructions

1. 1

   Build the base

   Warm the olive oil in a large, heavy pan over a medium heat. Add the onion, celery, and carrot with a good pinch of salt. Stir them through the oil and let them cook gently for ten to twelve minutes, stirring now and then, until everything has softened and the onion has gone translucent and sweet. No colour. You're building a foundation here, not frying. Add the garlic for the last minute or two, just long enough for it to lose its rawness and start to smell like something you'd want to eat.

   Dice the vegetables small and roughly equal. They're going to dissolve into the sauce over the next hour. The finer you cut them now, the more they disappear later, which is what you want. A bolognese shouldn't be chunky.
2. 2

   Brown the mince

   Push the vegetables to the edges of the pan and turn the heat up. Add the mince in one layer and leave it alone. Let it sit against the hot pan until the underside is properly browned, two or three minutes. Then break it up with a wooden spoon and stir it through, letting all the pieces catch some colour. You want deep brown, not grey. Grey mince is mince that was steamed in a crowded pan, and it will taste of nothing. If your pan is small, do this in two batches. It matters.

   If the mince releases a lot of liquid, don't panic. Let it bubble away before you start browning. The water needs to go before the colour comes.
3. 3

   Add depth and liquid

   Stir the tomato purée into the mince and let it cook for a minute until it darkens and starts to catch on the bottom of the pan. That's flavour. Add a generous splash of Worcestershire sauce, the kind of splash you'd give if nobody was watching, and pour in the red wine. Let it bubble fiercely for a minute or so until the sharp alcohol smell cooks off and you're left with something richer. Add the tinned tomatoes, the stock, the bay leaf, and the oregano. Stir it all together, bring it to a gentle simmer, and turn the heat down low.

   The Worcestershire sauce is what makes this British. It adds a dark, savoury depth that no amount of Italian seasoning will replicate. Don't measure it. Trust your hand.
4. 4

   Simmer slowly

   Let the sauce tick away on the lowest heat for at least forty-five minutes, an hour if you have it. A lid slightly ajar. Stir every now and then to make sure nothing catches on the bottom. The sauce will reduce and thicken, the vegetables will have all but melted, and the kitchen will start to smell like the kind of evening where nobody is in a hurry. If it gets too thick, add a splash of water. If it's too thin, take the lid off entirely and let it reduce. You're looking for a sauce that clings to a spoon without running off.

   This is the part that separates a good bolognese from a rushed one. Time is the ingredient you can't substitute. The longer it simmers, the more everything melds and the deeper the flavour becomes.
5. 5

   Cook the spaghetti

   When the sauce is nearly ready, bring a large pan of well-salted water to a rolling boil. It should taste like the sea. Add the spaghetti and cook it according to the packet, tasting a strand a minute before it says it's done. You want it with a bit of resistance still, not soft, not chalky, just right. Save a mugful of the starchy cooking water before you drain it. You'll want it.

6. 6

   Bring it together

   Fish out the bay leaf and taste the sauce. Season with salt and pepper. It will probably need more than you think. Tip the drained spaghetti into the sauce and toss it through, adding a splash of the pasta water to loosen everything and help the sauce coat every strand. It should look glossy and generous, not dry, not swimming. Pile it into warm bowls, grate a good heap of mature cheddar over the top, and scatter some parsley if you've got it. Put the bowl in front of someone. That's the whole point.

Chef Tips

• •Buy the best mince you can. It doesn't need to be fillet steak ground to order, but a mince with some fat in it, around 15-20%, makes a far better sauce than the lean stuff. Fat is flavour, and a bolognese without it tastes hollow.
• •Cheddar, not Parmesan. I know. But this is a British bolognese and mature cheddar melts into the hot pasta in a way that's entirely its own pleasure. Strong, sharp, grated in a heap. Don't hold back.
• •This freezes beautifully. Make a double batch of the sauce without the pasta and freeze half in portions. A future weeknight self will thank you. Defrost overnight and reheat gently while the pasta boils.
• •If you don't drink or don't have wine open, skip it. Add a tablespoon of red wine vinegar instead for a bit of acidity, and a splash more stock. The sauce will still be good. Don't buy a bottle of wine you won't drink just for a recipe.

Advance Preparation

• •The sauce improves overnight. Make it a day ahead if you can, refrigerate it, and reheat gently while you boil the pasta. The flavours settle and deepen in a way that same-day cooking can't quite match.
• •The sauce freezes well for up to three months. Cool it completely, portion into containers, and freeze. Defrost overnight in the fridge and reheat on the hob with a splash of water to loosen.
• •Do not cook the spaghetti ahead. It takes ten minutes. Fresh pasta in reheated sauce is always better than reheated pasta in anything.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 520g)