Brown mince, add onion and garlic, add sauce and basil, simmer, cook pasta … dinner’s ready! It can’t get any easier than that. Here are our tips for the best bolognaise.
The best bolognaise
It’s best to cook the mince in two batches. To start the sauce, heat a pan until moderately hot and add a batch of mince, being careful not to crowd the pan. Crumble the mince over the base of the pan rather than adding it in one clump.
Step 1 – As the mince cooks, break up lumps with a fork. Let this first side of the mince sear lightly before using a fork to break up the larger pieces. As it cooks, tilt the pan slightly and spoon away the liquid – this helps brown the mince. Using a moderately high heat will also help any water evaporate. |
Step 2 – Brown the mince carefully before adding the sauce. Once the liquid has been removed from the pan the mince can then begin to brown. It will begin to cook fairly quickly at this stage, so keep it moving to ensure it browns evenly but doesn’t dry out. Repeat this step with any remaining batches of mince. |
Step 3 – If you’ve got the time, don’t hurry the process. Reducing the sauce gives it more flavour, return all the mince to the pan with the sauce ingredients. The mixture should simmer uncovered for about 45 minutes – if not 25 or 30 minutes will be near as good. If you speed up the process and the sauce reduces too much and becomes dry, add 1/2 to 1 cup of water. |
When is it ready?
The completed sauce should have enough body so that the liquid doesn’t separate when it’s added to the pasta. It shouldn’t be too thick either – the bolognaise sauce should coat the pasta, rather than sit as a thickish lump on top.
Easy bolognaise sauce for 4
- Take 500g of mince and cook it in 2 batches in a large, heavy based pan until brown.
- Add a small chopped onion and chopped garlic, and cook until onion is soft. Add a 750ml bottle of tomato pasta sauce, a pinch each of sugar, salt and pepper and some chopped fresh basil or parsley.
- Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 to 45 minutes. Add 1/2 to 1 cup of water to sauce if needed as it cooks.
- The bolognaise sauce can be made up to 2 days in advance. It can be frozen for 3 months, thaw it overnight in the refrigerator.
Add some extra goodness … the kids will never even know it!
Mums are often looking for ways to include extra vegetables in their kids' meals, the following idea works a treat. Grate a small zucchini and carrot, and finely chop a handful of fresh mushrooms (you can also use a food processor to finely chop the ingredients). After you’ve cooked the onion for your bolognaise sauce add the vegies, cook stirring for about 3 minutes or until they are quite soft. Then add the browned mince and sauce, simmer as usual.
Make one batch of bolognaise sauce for two meals
Plan ahead and make a larger batch of bolognaise sauce, serve up half that night and freeze the rest for a quick weeknight meal. 500g of beef mince and a 550g bottle of tomato pasta sauce will feed four, so use your largest pan and cook up 1kg beef mince and double your other ingredients to give you enough for two meals. Simply freeze half in an airtight container.
Enjoy this delicious bolognaise recipe
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