Ragu alla Bolognese (Pasta with Bolognese Sauce)

After watching the recent Australian Masterchef episode covering the elimination challenge between Jonathan and Adele of making the best bolognese, I remembered that I recently have done a little experiment myself that is very similar to this Masterchef challenge.

Jonathan produced a gourmet version and Adele came up with a homely version of bolognese sauce. The gourmet version won over the judges hearts. You can watch the episode video HERE.

I have always been cooking my bolognese sauce using a recipe from one of the earlier Australia Women's Weekly cookbooks. I have been cooking my bolognese sauce basically the same for years (I have changed a few ingredients and small steps over the years). Everyone loves it. It's homey, it's tomatoey. Being a housewife and mom, nothing is more satisfying than to see husband and kids tucking into their dinner plates and slurping up every single pasta and every drip of sauce.

A few weeks ago, I thought that it might be time for me to be a bit more adventurous. So I tried to make a more gourmet version of my bolognese sauce. Up came this cookbook: Made in Italy Food & Story by Giorgio Locatelli. Looking at his recipe, the mince is heavily infused with red wine, passata is used instead of canned tomato and tomato paste. I was a little nervous as how well it would be received by Miss C - considering the amount of red wine in this recipe.

Mr J and Miss C were very looking forward to the dinner when I announced to them it was going to be rigatoni with bolognese sauce. I didn't tell them I am cooking a different version. It turned out that my fear was right, after the first bite, Mr J and Miss C stared at me and said, "This is not the bolognese sauce you always make!"

I said: "No, I used a different recipe." and then I asked them: "Do you like it?".

Mr J said: "It's not bad, the red wine taste is very dominant."

Miss C said: "It's not the same, mommy."

The dinner table went silent and Miss C didn't finish her dinner, contrary to what she always did with her pasta with bolognese sauce.

At the end of the dinner, Mr J and Miss C said to me, "I know this is probably the better recipe but we still like our bolognese sauce the way it always has been."

Don't we all like some of our comfort food to be the same just like how our moms cooked at home? No matter how average the recipe was, no matter how our tastebuds have evolved over time, some dishes taste the best when untouched and unchanged. Just how we like it.

Ragu alla Bolognese Recipe
(Adapted from Giorgio Locatelli's Made In Italy Food & Stories)
Makes enough for 8

Giorgio Locatelli - 'This is the most famous Italian ragu, which I love with gnocchi. The the restaurant we cook this in the oven in big pans at about 120C, so it just simmers, for about the same length of time as if you cooked it on the stove - if you have a big enough oven and big enough pans, you can do the same."

Ingredients

2 kg minced beef, preferably neck
5 tbsp olive oil
2 carrots, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
Sprig of rosemary and sprig of sage, tied together for a bouquet garni
2 garlic cloves
1 bottle of red wine
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 litre tomato passata
Salt and pepper

Method

1. Take the meat out of the fridge and lay it on a tray and let it come to room temperature, so that it will sear, rather than 'boil' when it goes into the pan.
2. Heat the oil in a wide-bottomed saucepan, add the vegetables, herbs and whole garlic cloves, and sweat over a high heat for 5-8 minutes without allowing it to colour (you will need to keep stirring).
3. Season the meat with salt and pepper and add to the pan of vegetables, make sure that the meat is covering the base of pan. Leave for about 5-6 minutes, so that the meat seals underneath and heats through completely, before you start stirring (otherwise it will ooze protein and liquid and it will 'boil' rather than sear). Take care, though, that the vegetable don't burn - add a little more oil, if necessary, to stop this happening.
4. Stir the meat and vegetables every few minutes for about 10-12 minutes, until the meat starts to stick to the bottom of the pan. At this point, the meat is ready to take the wine.
5. Add the wine and let it reduce right down to virtually nothing, then add the tomato paste and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring all the time.
6. Add the passata with 1 litre of water. Bring to the boil, then turn down to a simmer and cook for about 1 1/2 hours, adding a little extra water if necessary from time to time, until you have a thick sauce.
7. When you are ready to serve the ragu, put it back into a pan and heat through. Cook your pasta (preferably pappardelle, tagliatelle or short pasta) and drain, reserving the cooking water. Add the pasta to the ragu and toss well, adding some of the cooking water, if necessary, to loosen the sauce. Serve with freshly grated pecorino.

AWW's Bolognese Sauce
(Adapted from AWW's Thh Basic Cookbook)
Serves 4

AWW - "Sauce can be made 3 days ahead; keep, covered, in refrigerator, or freeze for 2 months."

Ingredients

1 tbsp oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
500 g minced beef
410g can tomatoes
1/4 cup tomato paste (I use 1 tbsp)
1/4 cup water
1 small beef stock cube, crumbled (I use salt and pepper to taste)
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp dried basil leaves
1/4 tsp dried oregano leaves

Method

1. Heat oil in large saucepan, add onion and garlic, stir constantly over medium heat for about 5 minutes or until soft.
2. Add mince to pan, stir constantly over high heat until well browned.
3. Add undrained tomatoes, tomato paste, water, stock cube, sugar and herbs, crush tomatoes with potato masher or fork. Bring to boil, reduce heat, cover, simmer for about 30 minutes or until mince is tender and mixture thickened slightly. Serve over hot pasta.