Pappardelle with authentic Bolognese sauce
- 400g Pappardelle pasta
- 2 tablespoons (40ml) extra virgin olive oil
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 1 carrot, finely chopped
- 1 stalk celery, finely chopped
- 400g freshly minced beef (ground meat) – refer to note in step 1
- 250g freshly minced pork (ground meat) – refer to note in step 1
- 125ml white wine
- 140g tomato paste
- 500g Italian passata
- 500ml water
- 100ml full-cream milk
- Parmigiano Reggiano to serve
- Sea salt
To make the ragù, heat the olive oil in a large heavy-based stockpot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot and celery. Cook, stirring, until the onion is soft (approximately 4 minutes). Add the beef and pork mince. Season with salt to taste. Cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, breaking up any lumps until the meat is lightly browned all over.
A combination of beef chuck (stewing) steak and pork pieces like the thigh (which are fattier and tastier) make a flavoursome mince with a good meat to fat ratio. The mince should also not be too lean with the ideal ratio being 70% meat and 30% fat. Ask your butcher to freshly mince the meat for you. Using Wagyu beef and good quality pork such is more costly but makes a juicy and flavoursome ragù which is totally worth it.
Add the white wine and cook for about 6 minutes or until the wine has reduced. Add the tomato paste and stir for a few minutes. The tomato paste will caramelize and allow full flavour of the ragù to develop. Add the Italian passata and water. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to very low. Allow to simmer for a further 2 hours or until the ragù has reduced to your required consistency. Stir the ragù occasionally so that the sauce does not stick to the pot and burn. If the ragù is looking dry, add more water as needed to keep the sauce lovely and moist. Remove from the heat.
Once you have removed pot from the heat, pour the full-cream milk in a slow steady stream, little at a time, stirring continuously until the milk is completely absorbed by the sauce. Milk serves to make the sauce rich and creamy.
Place a large pot with water on high heat and bring to the boil. Add a pinch of salt and Pappardelle pasta to the boiling water and cook until ‘al dente’ – refer to the cooking time specified in pasta packet instructions. Drain the pasta.
Add the pasta to the stockpot with ragù and toss to combine. Divide Pappardelle with authentic Bolognese sauce among deep serving bowls. Serve with grated Parmigiano Reggiano on top – Buon appetito.
