The classic. So many variations on how to cook this dish and I have tried them all. Keep it simple with good quality meat, the best canned tomatoes you can manage and don’t be tempted to add loads of herbs or extra flavourings. Traditionally served with fettuccine or tagliatelle to please the purists, but have it with spaghetti if you want to – rules are meant to be broken after all.
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading...Ingredients
- 1 large onion
- 1 large carrot
- 2 sticks celery
- 150g diced pancetta
- 750g minced beef
- 4 large cloves garlic
- 2 tablespoons tomato puree
- 300ml red wine
- 1 tin chopped tomatoes
- 1 tin plum tomatoes
Instructions
Chop the celery, onion and carrot into small dice and gently fry in a wide, heavy-based pan with a pinch of salt. Use a pan that has a lid and will go in the oven.
After around 7-8 minutes, as the vegetables soften, add the diced pancetta. Cook for a further 5 minutes. Add the sliced garlic and cook for another minute or two.
Add the minced beef in small pieces and stir in well. Turn up the heat a little to brown the meat. Cook for 5 minutes or until the meat is fully cooked through and no raw meat remains.
Next, turn the heat up even higher and add the red wine. Stir well and allow the wine to reduce down by around two-thirds. Reduce the heat.
Add the tomato puree and stir into the mix.
Now you can add the cans of chopped tomatoes, rinsing them out with water. Always add a pinch of sugar when using canned tomatoes, so pop that in now as well. Stir well and cook on the hob for 15-20 minutes, breaking up the plum tomatoes with your wooden spoon. Add a good few twists of pepper.
Put a lid on the pan and transfer to an oven. I prefer a low-and-slow approach, so go for 150º for around 2 hours, checking once or twice to stir or that it isn't drying out.
The sauce is ready when the liquid has been absorbed and it has a glistening, oily sheen on the top and around the pan and a deep red colour to the sauce. Season to taste and allow to cool.
When you are ready to eat it (if this is the next day, so much the better), add some tagliatelle or fettuccine pasta to boiling, salted water and cook the pasta for the time allocated on the packet. Before draining, add 4-5 tablespoons of the pasta water to the sauce and stir in, as you would with any pasta sauce. Drain the pasta, mix the hot sauce and serve with parmesan cheese and a some generous twists of cracked black pepper.
Notes
This works very well with just onion as the base, but adding the carrot and celery gives so much more flavour. Many recipes call for the meat to be browned in a separate pan, but after many attempts I find that it tastes just as good all cooked together, especially if you are using good quality, lean minced beef from a decent butcher. For extra flavour, you can add a pinch of porcini mushroom powder when you add the minced beef, although this is a non-traditional ingredient and may provoke heated debate at your local Italian deli.
