Ragu' alla bolognese

This ragú dish is one of our favourite recipes (and Laura's favourite pasta EVER).
After 4 hours of slow cooking, the final product is incredibile - rich in flavour and beautifully tender. 
The preparation takes around 15-20 minutes. The rest of the time is for you to have a glass of vino while you wait for the smell of Ragù to fill the whole house!

Watch the ragu' recipe video

What you need: 
500g of good quality beef mince 
400g of good quality pork mince 
150g of pancetta 
50g of celery 
50g of carrots 
100g of onions
400g of peeled plum tomatoes 
200g of red wine (we like to use Chianti) 
1,5L of vegetable stock 
Salt 
5 bay leaves

For the fresh egg pasta click here for the recipe.
Or you can serve the ragu' with dry pasta to - if so, we would suggest pappardelle, tagliatelle, spaghetti or fusilli too. 

This recipe make about 10 portions - you can always do a big batch then freeze for later.

The cooking process:

1. Start chopping the pancetta into cubes and thinly chop the onions, carrots and celery. 
2. Put a big pot on a medium high hit and add the pancetta with a tbsp of extra virgin olive oil.
3. The pancetta will start to release the fat and get a little bit brown. At this point we can start with the soffritto - add all the chopped onions, celery and carrots and let it cook (sweat) for around 10 minutes, stirring often. 
4. Add the pork mince and beef mince and give it a nice stir, letting it cook for around  10 minutes on a medium heat.
5. Add the wine and let it evaporate until you get that sweet smell - this will take around 5 minutes. 
6. Add the plum tomatoes along with the bay leaves and only half of the vegetable stock. 
7. Let the ragù mixture simmer on a very very low heat for around 2 hours, checking the ragù and giving it a nice stir every 40 minutes. 
8. After 2 hours the ragu' is reduce and all the liquids should have evaporated from the pan, at this point you can add the rest of your stock and let it simmer again for another 2 hours. 
9. Your ragù will be ready after this 4 hour period. The consistency of the ragù should be thick - there should be no liquid at all. If there is, put the heat on a high again and stir it constantly until the water has all evaporated. The ragù should have a very nice brown colour.
10. Let the ragu' rest and cool down in the pot for 30 minutes.
11. Lastly, you can adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper (it's important that you do this just at end or else your ragu' will be too salty). 
12. Serve the ragù with any type of pasta. Top it with parmesan and a drizzle of good extra virgin olive oil, we also suggest to serve your ragù with fresh made egg pappardelle- it's fantastic! Or even to try to make lasagna with it. The ragu' it will taste even better from the day after you make it - as this will have cool down properly overnight and the flavours will have combine all together making a very tasty ragu'!!

The ragù can stay in the fridge up to 3 days- or you can freeze it without any problem.

Buon appetito  a tutti!

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