Gino's classic bolognese masterclass

Monday 12 November at 3:53pm

It's the second most home cooked dish in the country, but with so many variations, do you know the secret to a truly authentic Bolognese?

Gino does - he’s back for round two, with a classic recipe which he’ll team up with tagliatelle.

Plus he’ll even show you how to batch cook it and freeze it for later on in the week.

Serves 6

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, very finely diced

2 celery sticks, very finely diced

1 carrot, very finely diced

500g minced pork

500g minced beef

50ml red wine

50ml milk

4 tablespoons tomato puree

300ml Passata (optional)

400ml chicken or vegetable stock

500g fresh tagliatelle

Parmesan shavings to serve

Method

Heat half the oil in a large sauté pan and fry the onion, celery and carrot for 5 minutes until soft and starting to colour.
While the vegetables are cooking, put all the meat in a large bowl, pour over the remaining olive oil and crumble the meat between your fingertips. Add the meat to the pan and fry until brown – around 5 minutes.
Deglaze the pan with the red wine and allow to simmer for a couple of minutes, then add the milk. Simmer for 2 minutes before stirring in the tomato purée, passata and stock. Simmer gently for 3 hours until reduced and thickened. Once cooked, remove from the hob, season with salt and pepper then cover with a lid and leave for 20 minutes – you do not want the sauce to be boiling hot when you serve it.
When ready to serve, bring a large pan of water to the boil and season generously with salt. Add the pasta to the pan and cook for 2–3 minutes or until just cooked. Drain the pasta, then return to the pan with the sauce and toss to combine. Serve in bowls with a few Parmesan shavings scattered over, if you like. Enjoy!

For Gino's Lasagne Di Mamma:

You will need half x quantity bolognese recipe as above

12 fresh lasagne sheets, each about 10 x 18cm

100g freshly grated parmesan cheese

50g cold salted butter, cut into 1cm cubes

salt and pepper to taste

For the béchamel sauce:

100g salted butter

100g plain flour

1 litre cold full-fat milk

50g freshly grated parmesan cheese

¼ freshly grated nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/gas mark 4.

Method

To make the béchamel sauce, melt the butter in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute until it becomes light brown in colour. Gradually whisk in the milk, lower the heat and cook for 10 minutes, whisking constantly. Once thickened, stir in the Parmesan and nutmeg. Season with salt and pepper and set aside to slightly cool.
Spread a quarter of the béchamel sauce in the bottom of a deep ovenproof dish measuring about 30 x 25cm. Lay 4 lasagne sheets on top and, if necessary, cut them to fit the dish.
Spread half the meat sauce over the pasta, then top with a third of the remaining béchamel sauce. Lay 4 more sheets of lasagne on top and cover with the remaining meat sauce. Spread half the remaining béchamel sauce on top. Arrange a final layer of lasagne sheets over the sauces, then gently spread the rest of the béchamel on top, making sure that you completely cover the pasta.
Sprinkle with the Parmesan and cubed butter. Finally, grind some black pepper over the top.
Cook in the bottom of the oven for 30 minutes, then place the dish in the middle of the oven, raise the temperature to 200ºC/gas mark 6 and cook for a further 15 minutes until golden and crispy all over. Set the dish aside to rest for 10 minutes before serving.