Bolognese sauce

irenenevada's Note:

My favorite recipe... I really love the sweet taste of wine in it.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 20 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 8

• 1 bottle red wine (Chianti is best but any cheap red wine is OK.)
• 1 ½ kg topside beef mince
• 3 stalks celery , diced (no leaves)
• 4 medium carrots , diced
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano or 2 tablespoons fresh oregano , chopped
• ½ tablespoon dried thyme or 1 tablespoon fresh thyme , chopped
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley or 2 tablespoons fresh parsley , chopped
• 1 tablespoon dried basil or 2 tablespoons fresh basil , chopped
• 1 teaspoon marjoram or 2 teaspoons fresh marjoram , chopped
• 2 dried bay leaves
• ¼ cup dry-roasted pine nuts
• 5 cloves garlic , minced
• 1 large onion , diced
• 250 g button mushrooms (brown button mushrooms are better)
• 5 fresh tomatoes, skinned and coarsely chopped or 1 (400 g) can of skinless tomatoes
• 1 (150 g) can tomato paste
• ½ bottle ketchup (Heinz is best)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 egg
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Using your hands, mix egg and minced beef.
2. Heat pan and fry garlic and onion until soft and fragrant, add beef.
3. Stir constantly until beef changes colour.
4. Add oregano, thyme, parsley, basil, marjoram, bayleaves.
5. Stir through.
6. Add tomato paste and fresh tomatoes, with 1/3 of the wine.
7. Mix thoroughly.
8. Season with salt and pepper.
9. DO NOT ADD WATER AT ALL.
10. Let boil over very low heat until mixture thickens, stirring ocassionally.
11. Add carrots and celery, and half of the remaining wine.
12. Let boil (very low heat) until liquid is absorbed.
13. Stir occasionally.
14. Add the rest of the wine, tomato sauce, pinenuts and mushrooms.
15. Stir until sauce thickens.
16. Serving method: Boil water until it bubbles, add pasta, 1 tbsp of salt and 2 tbsp of olive oil.
17. Cook for exactly 8 minutes for al-dente texture.
18. Drain pasta.
19. Make sure it's really drained of water.
20. In a pan, heat up pasta sauce (1 serving) and toss pasta in.
21. Stir quickly (1 minute) and pour onto plate.
22. Sprinkle with grated mozzarella and parmesan, and a bit of parsley.
23. NOTE: Sauce can be stored in small containers in the freezer to be used when needed.
24. Make sure container is microwaveable, clean and dry.
25. The sauce keeps for 12 months in the freezer.