Hello Dear Reader,
I’ve been out and about today, trying to make the best of the good weather even though it’s been freezing cold. I work on the basis that the weather might not be good again until June, so get out! I came home with what felt like finger nibbling frost bite and wanted something really wholesome. I make a ragu sauce and then make a couple of lasagnes after we’ve had the ragu sauce with pasta. My sauce is two thirds vegetables and one third meat. To make my sauce, you will need: one pack of minced beef - about 300-400g, a head of celery, one large or three small onions, five small or two large carrots, a lot of tomato paste (i got huge tins from approved food), some garlic powder, granules or fresh garlic, 2 teaspoons of mixed herbs, one level teaspoon of ground black pepper, one level teaspoon of salt and water.
Get a pan hot. Wash and peel the carrots, peel and roughly chop the onions, wash and roughly chop the celery.
Place them in the food processor and blitz into little bits.
Get a pan hot, add the mince and veggies and fry on a low heat until cooked through.
Add loads of tomato paste. Don’t use tinned tomatoes if you have this as tinned toms makes it watery. The tomato concentrate makes this rich and delicious.
Add water to loosen and simmer on a low heat for a couple of hours. If your ragu sauce lacks depth and flavour, then it’s probably not cooked for long enough.
Here’s the finished result. You don’t need much as it’s so rich.
The tiniest grating of cheddar, which is too expensive to be indulgent with, a stir through and it’s perfect.
Finally, over the last few evening, I’ve finished another Yoosta-Bee creation. Old shirts, thrifted fabric, the backing is a sheet sent to me from a reader, lots of the fabric was donated from a Dear Reader in America, some vintage pillow cases and the resulting ‘true blue’ quilt will be in the post on Monday to another Dear Reader who helped me out.
I’m on a week’s holiday next week and will be busy, busy, busy…………….so watch this space!
Until tomorrow,
Love Froogs xxx
Mmmm, doesnt that sauce look good. You can almost smell it. I add a bit of flat leaved parsley to mine to give it a bite.
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I make this sauce very similar to you.
I love the quilt.
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Ah that explains why my ragu is always so watery…..I always use tins of tomatoes. I'll have to use the concentrate in future.
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Sauce looks good. Will try it next week. Glad you have a weeks holiday, pattern for teddy bear ready to post on Monday. I made a Teddy this afternoon (Goulash in slow-cooker for evening meal).
Very pleased with my sewing; hope you try the pattern.
Love Dianne - Hereford.
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Ragu looks good - thanks for tip re: concentrate over tinned toms. If it needs to be cooked for a few hours - would it be more economical to do it in the slow cooker?
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I make the exact same sauce, with the addition of home grown bay leaves, which take it to another level. Fresh bayleaves are divine, so much better than dried, and bay grows quietly in a pot, is hardy, and needs very little care.
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I add a tablespoon or so (depending on the batch size) of plain flour when I add my tomato paste and then I can add canned tomatoes as the plain flour thickens the sauce up nicely.
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I have always hidden vegetables in the sauce too. We eat a lot of lasagne. It is an excellent way to get calcium into our diets. I agree that ragu needs long and slow cooking.
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My husband adds tomato soup for a sweet mixture. I add tinned tomatoes and tomato paste and let it simmer for a thicker sauce. I usually make my tomato based sauce for pasta without any meat, so not really a ragu. But with some herbs and cheese, it is a favourite here. And lovely to take leftovers to work for lunch. A zap in the microwave and everyone is salivating.
Love the quilt and the combination of patterns.
Enjoy your week away from the chalk face!
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that sauce does look good, I make it similarly, but leave out celery as we don't like it.
Gill
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i use fresh tomatoes if they are on sale (i got 10 for one dollar today), or tinned tomatoes (in my experience they are fine to use, just add a little tomato paste towards the end to thicken up, or increase the heat at the end to burn off any extra liquid). lots of fresh garlic, dried oregano, thyme and basil, as well as hot pepper flakes. since i'm veggie i save on the cost of ground beef, but i sometimes add lentils or white navy beans for protein. i make a big batch of this every weekend, and use for a variety of dishes — tonight i had the sauce on cabbage rolls (cabbage is super cheap these days), will also have it on pasta, in a layered veggie casserole, lasagna, even with add a little chili powder to it to use with beans in quesadillas. happy cooking!
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i love the label on your quilt!x
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That certainly looks a yummy sauce…I don't have to hide veggies from Mr FD, so usually don't blitz them up quite so much as you! Also (bizarrely, I think) celery doesn't seem very common in France, although when you can find it, you can buy it by the stalk, rather than buying a whole head. I certainly didn't realise that my tinned tomatoes would make the sauce watery - that's useful to know. You can get a tomato coulis (like tomato purée but slightly thinner) in Lidl. I think that might make a suitable substitute
I've made carrot, tomato & lentil soup for today's lunch - just the ticket for a cold damp day when I have a damp cold! (That might be too much information! Sorry!!)
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Froogs,
I tried your bolognese sauce recipe the other day-excellent! Love the step of pulsing the veggies vs hand chopping (saves my arthritic hands) and it really bulks up the sauce, in addition to being a great way to hide veg! One DS is known as “Mr Picky” and he gobbled it up. I did vary the recipe a tad-I only had 3 sprigs celery left, so in addition to the carrot/garlic/onion, I added a large red pepper and 8 oz pkg mushrooms. My food processor's bowl was as full as yours, so it worked as a means to having enough veg in the sauce. I have again joined an organic CSA thru a local farm, and expect zucchini squash come Summer. I'd like to try adding that to the sauce as well.
Thanks for sharing this great recipe/method!
Carol in CT
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