Baked Bolognese Sauce

Note: As far as the meat goes, you could use any combination of the four, or only use beef or beef and pork. But it’s worth using all four. It really does make all the difference in the final flavour.

Heat the olive oil in a deep-bottomed saucepan (I use the Le Creuset). Dice the onion and place into the pan. Cook gently for a few minutes. Dice up the bacon or prosciutto and add to the pan with the crushed garlic. Cook over a gentle heat until the fat on the bacon has dissolved. Grate your carrot and zucchini finely. Squeeze as much of the water out of the zucchini as you can and add both to the pan. Turn up the heat and cook for a minute or so. Add the meat and cook till browned. Turn the heat down to a medium low.

Add the tomato paste and stir to mix. Add the oregano, thyme, marjoram, cinnamon, and beef stock powder. Stir to mix. Open your cans on tomato and put the tomatoes onto your chopping board (reserve the sauce). Remove the icky bits from the tomatoes and dice up. Add to the sauce along with all the juices. Stir.

Add the bay leaves, tomato sauce (ketchup), balsamic, Tabasco and red wine. Stir the sauce well and cover with the lid.

Now, if you are going to bake your sauce you need to put your oven on to 180C (350F) and place your sauce with the lid on in the oven for 2 hours. Check once in a while and stir occasionally.

If you will make this on the stove top, place on a very low heat and simmer gently for 3-4 hours, stirring occasionally and topping up the liquid if needed.

You can (and I do) combine the two cooking methods. I often simmer my sauce for a couple of hours and then whack it in the oven for an hour or so at 160C (320F). However, when I am making this sauce for lasagne, I tend to go the stove top direction, simply because I am going to be baking the sauce in the lasagne.

As with any ragu this is best made the day before, left to cool, placed in the fridge overnight and then reheated slowly over a low heat the next day before serving.