All Day Ragu (Bolognese)

Kiint's Note:

An all day baked ragu, a very simple base on which to expand from. The sauce is extremely rich, definately not for those watching their waistline. Its probably not best to cook this in a slow cooker (crock pot) however I haven't tested this method so I cannot say for sure. This is a recipe that can take a full 24 hours to prepare and cook, however the result is most definately worth it.

• Total Time: 8 hrs 45 mins
• Prep Time: 45 mins
• Cook Time: 8 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 500 g veal mince
• 500 g pork mince
• 1 ½ kg roma tomatoes , vine ripened and essential for flavour
• 80 ml tomato paste
• 3 large onions
• 50 ml olive oil
• 30 g fresh oregano
• 60 g fresh basil
• 15 g fresh thyme

Directions:

1. Ensure the minced meats are at room temperature, leave defrost overnight if necessary its best to do this after you have done the tomatoes.
2. Tomato Preparation (the night before):.
3. Cut a light cross in the smooth end of the tomatoes. In a large pot of rapidly boiling water, quickly place a tomato in and let sit for no longer than 30 seconds to blanche the skin. Remove and rinse under cool water to stop the cooking process. You should now be able to gently peel the skins off the tomato.
4. Next, quarter the tomato and spoon the pulp into a sieve over a bowl. For each tomato that is pulped add a couple of light pinches of salt over the pulp in the sieve. Let the pulp drain overnight in the fridge to remove all the juice in the bowl.
5. On the day of cooking dice the tomato flesh and set aside for during the cooking process.
6. The day of the Ragu.
7. Pre heat an oven to 150°C.
8. Dice the onions.
9. Heat a good cast iron caserole dish on the stove and add the olive
10. Fry off the onion in the caserole dish until they are well caramelized.
11. Add the pork mince first and cook off until brown.
12. Once the pork is browned add the veal and cook altogether well.
13. Add the tomato paste to the meat/onion mix and cook off briefly for a minute or two.
14. Add the diced tomato flesh and stir in well, at the same time add the juice collected overnight.
15. Stir well and cover the caserole dish then place in the pre heated oven.
16. Wait at least 4 hours before removing and giving gentle stir. Test for liquid consistency and add water as necessary to reach your preferred level. This is entirely subjective and it depends how "soupy" you prefer your ragu. Now is the perfect time to test your seasoning levels, add salt as necessary however most of the salt needed is added during the tomato preparation.
17. 2 hours before dishing time add the fresh herbs and stir in well and taste test.
18. 1/2 hour before dishing remove and do a final liquid check and taste test.
19. Dish up and enjoy. This is ideally served on fresh home made pasta (1 large egg per 125g fine plain flour) you should have ample time to make this while the ragu is cooking.