Beef & Porcini Ragu

Comfort food for the whole family, this is effectively a glorified spag bol... To add depth to the sauce (without using a stock cube) I added a handful of soaked porcini mushrooms and a very large glass of red wine! 

What you need:

25g butter 

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 garlic clove, minced

1 large brown onion, finely chopped

500g grass-fed beef mince

1 can of tomatoes

1 tablespoon of tomato puree and 1 teaspoon of white sugar (or 1 tablespoon of ketchup - shhh..)

Pinch of dried oregano

1 large glass of red wine
1 dash of Worcestershire sauce

Handful of porcini mushrooms

Salt & pepper

1 pack of linguini pasta (or spaghetti)

150g Parmesan, finely grated

Method:

Boil the kettle, then pour boiling water over your porcini mushrooms in a small bowl. Allow to soak for at least 15 minutes, while you prepare the rest.

Finely chop your onion and mince your garlic.

Put the butter and oil into a large frying pan or casserole pot and melt it slowly. 
 

Once melted, add your onion and garlic and fry gently on a low heat for around 7 minutes until the onion is softened, but NOT BROWNED.
 

Add your veal and stir while breaking up the clumps. Once browned after a few minutes, add your tin of tomatoes, tomato puree & sugar (or ketchup), oregano, red wine, Worcestershire sauce, salt & pepper.

Bring the pan to the boil.

Remove your porcini from their soaking liquid (keeping it for later), finely chop them and add to the pan. 

Lower the heat then put the lid on and simmer for 20-30 minutes. If it starts to dry up at all, add a little of the porcini soaking sauce.

10 minutes before the end of the cooking time, put your pasta of choice onto boil. We used linguini in the picture.

Sprinkle Parmesan on top.

Serves 3 adults and 2 children.