Ragù alla bolognese

A variation on the recipe for the Italian dish Ragù alla bolognese. Made with 400g of ground (minced) beef, with 20 per cent fat, plus celery, carrots, red onion, a tin of Italian plum tomatoes, a handful of fresh basil leaves, a bay leaf, and beef stock. Sometimes the recipe for this dish asks for diced pancetta, which is a type of Italian unsmoked bacon, thyme, nutmeg and milk. I skipped all of those. Garlic is sometimes not specified, but I added three cloves.

Brown the beef in its own fat at a high heat in a large saute pan. Add the onions (three medium red onions), finely diced carrots (two), and finely chopped celery. Stir frequently to ensure even browning of the beef. Add finely chopped garlic. The browning process should be complete in fifteen to twenty minutes.

Add boiling water to the pan, and the plum tomatoes. Mash and chop the tomatoes with either a masher or a wooden slice or paddle. Stir the ingredients together. Add the beef stock, the chopped basil leaves, and the bay leaf. Add a couple of dashes of black pepper according to taste.

Once the pan comes back to the boil, reduce the heat to the minimum,  and simmer for two hours under a glass lid. Stir occasionally.

Serve with tagliatteli, or penne pasta, spaghetti (not done in Italy, I'm told) or fusili. You can choose to mix in some yoghurt before serving. Add a topping of parmesan, or parmigiano reggiano cheese, and dust with black pepper.

If you want to reduce the level of fat in the dish, you can brown the beef separately, and drain the fat off before adding the vegetables (use a metal sieve). Alternatively, you can decant the sauce into a tall glass vessel while it is still warm. The fat will migrate to the top and solidify. You can then spoon it off and reheat the sauce before serving.