It’s great to cook up a batch of bolognaise on the weekend. You can then use it for quick meals throughout the week when you’re too busy or tired to cook.
Get inspired with our entire recipe collection, and why not add a light and tasty salad alongside your bolognaise dish.
Prepare the base vegetables
Peel and dice the onion, celery and carrot, placing them in a bowl as you go. Finely chop or crush the garlic. Slice the mushrooms.
Sauté the vegetables
Heat a large cast iron pot or saucepan over medium heat. Add 2 teaspoons of olive oil. Add the base vegetables to the pan and sauté (which means to cook quickly) for 5 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring regularly to ensure the mixture cooks evenly and doesn’t stick to the pan.
Using a large spoon, remove the cooked vegetables from the pan and transfer them back to the bowl.
Brown the mince
Add the extra lean minced beef to the pan and use a fork to break it up. Keep stirring and breaking up the mince for about 10 minutes, or until browned.
Drain and discard the fat
If there is some fat in the pan, spoon the beef into a fine sieve, letting any fat drain into a takeaway container. You may also need to hold the handles of the pan with a tea towel or oven mitts and pour any extra fat into the container. Seal the container and toss it in the bin.
Add tomatoes, herbs and seasoning
Return both the base vegetables and beef to the pan. Add the canned tomatoes, tomato paste, herbs, sea salt, pepper and water.
Optional ingredients, such as 1⁄4 cup red wine or a pinch of chilli flakes, can be added at this point. Stir the mixture well and cook for a further 5–7 minutes or until the mixture starts to boil.
Reduce the sauce
Reduce the heat to low and simmer (which means a slow, gentle boil) for 50–60 minutes or until the sauce has thickened. Serve the sauce on spaghetti or spoon portion-controlled servings into individual plastic containers and freeze for up to 4 weeks.
