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Spaghetti Bolognese
The one everybody can cook, done properly — low, slow, and with milk in it.
1 hr 40 min totalEasyServes 2Beef · Pasta · Comfort · Batch cook
Ingredients
Scaled for 2 people
- Beef mince (15% fat)400 g
- Smoked bacon lardons100 g
- Onions×1
- Carrots×1
- Celery sticks1 sticks
- Garlic cloves2 cloves
- Chopped tomatoes1 tins
- Tomato purée2 tbsp
- Whole milk150 ml
- Beef stock200 ml
- Spaghetti200 g
- Parmesan40 g
Method
- Finely dice the onion, carrot and celery. Soften them in oil with the lardons over medium-low heat for a full 10 minutes — this is the flavour base, do not rush it.
- Turn the heat up, add the mince and brown it hard, breaking it up. Let it catch and colour rather than stirring constantly.
- Add the garlic and tomato purée, cook out 1 minute, then pour in the milk and let it bubble away almost completely. It sounds odd; it makes the meat tender.
- Add the tomatoes and stock, bring to a bare simmer, then cook uncovered on the lowest heat for at least 1 hour, topping up with water if it tightens too much.
- Season at the end. Cook the spaghetti, drain (keeping a splash of water), and toss the pasta through the sauce in the pan rather than spooning sauce on top.
- Serve with grated parmesan.
Chef’s note
If it tastes sharp, it needs more time, not more sugar. Ninety minutes fixes most bolognese.