Lucy’s Homemade Bolognese Sauce

Ingredients

• 2 tbsps, Olive Oil (keep the heat low to medium so as not to overheat or burn the oil)
• 1 onion, roughly chopped
• 2/3 gloves of garlic, roughly chopped
• OPTIONAL – Add chilli at this stage if you like it spicy!!
• 1 red pepper
• 2 celery sticks
• 1 carrot
• 1 tbsp of tomato puree
• Thyme, (fresh and optional, I love the flavour)
• salt and pepper
• 1 jarred roasted pepper in vinegar, again this is optional but it gives a lovely sweetness to the sauce
• 4 large on the vine tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 1 tin of tomatoes, use 2 tins here if you have no fresh tomatoes. (I recommend Mutti chopped tomatoes or Mutti Pasatta)
• Bunch of fresh basil (essential for flavour) and fresh oregano (optional) – add at the end when off the heat and blend, use dried ½ teasp of each if you don’t have fresh

Method

1. On medium heat, so you don’t burn garlic or oil, Fry onion and garlic gently until soft
2. Add red pepper, carrot, celery stalks fry for a few minutes
3. Add salt pepper and thyme, fry again for few minutes
4. Add jarred pepper and fry
5. Add tomato puree and fry for a min or so
6. Add tomatoes, fry until they start to soften
7. Add tinned tomatoes – Bring up to boil then IMMEDIATELY TURN DOWN to a gentle simmer, cover with lid and leave to simmer for 40-60 minutes minimum. The longer you simmer, the lower the heat, the nicer the flavour. Using a heavy based pot will ensure the sauce doesn’t burn. This recipe is cooked to absolute perfection on a low slow heat, the longer the better. A slow cooker is ideal if you have one.
8. Turn off heat, add basil (fresh basil doesn’t like too much heat) and blend until smooth. BE CAREFUL AS SAUCE IS PIPING HOT AND CAN SPLASH. Blending provides a delicious sauce and disguises veg for those picky eaters

I’ve left out beef stock which is traditionally used in Bolognese sauce for 3 reasons – 1, I prefer the flavour without stock, 2, very few people have fresh beef stock to hand and the stock cubes in shops are usually very high salt. 3, it’s is now a versatile sauce that will suit vegetarians and meat eaters alike. The meat can cooked of separately on a pan and added at the end. Add kidney beans for a vegetarian version.

This is a sauce I’d normally make in my slow cooker, bung all the ingredients in and leave the slow cooker to do the work. Again add basil at the end when heat is off.

Enjoy!!