louie milebergs famous bolognaise recipe:
mirepoix: – 1 white or red onion doesnt matter – couple sticks of celery – 1 carrot dont go for too much carrot theyre quite sweet
ragu: -ground beef ideally use something like 80/20 -2 tins of tomatos want good quality tomatos -tomato paste -fresh basil if youve got it doesnt matter if not use dried basil -dry red wine
step 1: heat up a cast iron pot to a high ish heat and add good quality olive oil. if using a fattier beef for eg 80/20 dont add much oil. but if using something leaner like 95/5 add more oil.
step 2: add in beef once oil is screaming hot and get a good sear. leave for a good 5 ish minutes on 1 side to get browning and add salt at this point and then start to break up once got good brown bits all round pot
step 3: once beef browned on all sides put into a strainer with bowl underneath and drain off the excess fat. then add more olive oil and add the mirepoix we need a serious fine dice we do not want chunks maybe even grate the mirepoix instead of chopping to get it really fine
step 4 add more olive oil in and then we need to sweat the vegetables until really soft over medium heat we need them to almost dissolve to nothing also add salt to draw out the moisture id say about 15/20 mins of sweating. preheat oven to like 120 degrees c at this point
step 5 add in your tomato paste at this point doesnt matter how much really just make sure to 'cook it out' (add it into the pan on its own, do not let it touch the vegetables. id say about 2 minutes of frying it around on its own and you should smell it) tomato paste is typically quite tinny i think and if you cook it out you should smell the tinniness. once cooked out mix it in with the vegetables and everything should get sort of thicker.
step 6 add beef back in at this point and mix all together for a few mins. should start to brown on the bottom and then add in the wine to deglaze. turn heat to medium high at this point and then let the wine simmer out. you should be smelling constantly you can smell the alcohol leaving and scrape up and brown bits off the bottom theyre serious flavour. id say let it evapourate out for about 7 minutes but really just go until you cannot smell the alcohol anymore use as much wine as you want
step 7 add in the chopped tomatos and then rinse the cans out with water. ragu should be super watery at this point so bring to a simmer and then cover with a lid. add basil in at this point. place into an oven and cook for however long i normally do like 1 hour with lid on and then 45 minutes lid cracked and then like 20 minutes uncovered and then eat. if dont have oven proof dish you can do on stovetop leave it at a simmer for HOURS and stir every so often so the bottom doesnt burn
step 8 serve with your choice of pasta and enjoy