Nanny’s Bolognese (Italians look away)

Kitchen Still Life with Copper Pot and Saucepan, Radish and Cucumber

This is the first savoury recipe I learnt by heart.

A recipe that has got me through the sickly squalid hangovers at university, the thing I proudly made in my first-ever casserole dish, and a dish which I’m sure my dad always has in his freezer for emergency dinners, to be reheated after a long day of travelling.

It’s a family staple, and proudly inauthentic.

I’ve made some small tweaks (sorry Nanny), and a few more Italian-style suggestions following my time of working with Italian chefs and writing multiple ‘how to make the perfect bolognese’ articles for them. But the bones of it are still true to the original, handwritten in my Nanny’s familiar scrawl within her paisley fabric-padded recipe book.

Makes enough for 2 very hungry people, or 4 small people.

Ingredients

Olive oil

1 x onion, finely chopped

1 x celery stick, finely chopped

1 x carrot, finely chopped

3 x cloves of garlic

400g beef mince

2 tbs of tomato puree

1 x tin of peeled plum tomatoes

1 tbs of ketchup or a splash or Worcestershire sauce

1 x oxo cube (it has to be an oxo cube, not just beef stock!)

2 x bay leaves

1 x tbs dried oregano

Salt & pepper

Method:

• Step into the kitchen!

• Preheat the oven to 160c

• Put a casserole dish onto a medium heat, add a glug of olive oil

• Add your chopped onion, celery and carrot

• Fry till softened - around 5-7 minutes

• Add the chopped garlic, cook for a few more minutes

• Add the beef mince and turn up the heat, breaking the mince up thoroughly till it’s cooked through

• Add the tomato paste and fry till darkened and caramelised (thanks to Alison Romane for this!)

• Add the tinned tomatoes, rinse the tin with water and add that in too

• Break up the tomatoes a bit with your spoon

• Add the ketchup, oregano and bay leaves

• Crumble in the oxo cube

• Season well

• Now if you have heaps of time, put the bolognese in and let it cook for as long as you can at a low heat of 160c or even lower if you can wait longer. Keep an eye on it every hour or so to make sure it doesn’t dry out. If you want it within the hour, turn the oven up to 180c and let it simmer for 1 hour. But ideally, let it cook for as long as possible at a low heat. I’ve been told bolognese is a Sunday dish for a reason for Italy, as you start it in the morning and serve it for late lunch after it’s had hours and hours to slow cook and for the flavours to merge together.

• Enjoy and serve with spaghetti or rigatoni!