Bolognese Sauce

Serves 6

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time:
1½ hours

Ingredients
750/800g beef mince
2 tbsp olive oil 
2 medium onions, finely chopped 
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped 
250ml red wine 
2 tbsp tomato purée 
2 x 400g tins of tomatoes chopped or pulped  
1 tsp mixed Italian herbs 
1 tbsp sugar 
1 beef stock pot  
Parmesan - either rind or 1 tbsp Parmesan 
Salt 
Pepper 

* I like to buy steak, chunk it up and mince it myself because you can put the exact amount of fat you want and you can pick whatever meat you like the look of the most and, the thing I like the most, there is never any risk of getting gristle 

If you are mincing your own meat then cut the meat into chunks and season with salt, pepper and the herbs before you mince it.

Method
Put 1 tbsp oil in a wok or frying pan and cook the mince until brown - expect this to take 15-20 minutes.  You want to cook it until all of the juice that has come out of the meat has almost disappeared.  The meat will be browning and caramelising on the bottom. 

Add the red wine and scrape the caramelised bits from the bottom.  Cook for a few minutes until the liquid has reduced by at least half. Remove the mince and wine to a dish to the side.

Without cleaning out the pan, add the remaining tbsp of olive oil and the onion to the pan and cook for a 3-5 minutes until soft and translucent, add the garlic and continue to cook for a few minutes.  Add the tomato purée.  Mix well and cook for a minute - this is to remove the raw tomato taste.

Put the mince back into the pot and give it a good stir.  Add the tins of tomatoes, herbs, stock pot, sugar and a good 8-12 grinds of black pepper.  Mix thoroughly, add your Parmesan and cook on a low/medium heat for at least an hour until it has reduced. and is rich in flavour. 

Remove the parmesan rind and check the seasoning, adjusting where necessary with salt, pepper and sugar. I find it usually needs at least a tsp of salt but add slowly until you are happy.

You can now turn this into lasagne, spaghetti Bolognese or many other dishes.