When I make this OG ragu it has to have 3 things… a good base of vegetables, lots of meat, and heavy cream to add a nice richness and luxurious mouthfeel.
Below is the recipe for my Red Wine Bolognese,
Match this rich meat based ragu with a medium to full bodied red wine that has good acidity. If you're looking to keep the Italian theme a Lambrusco would be my pick. For some new world alternatives either a Cabernet Franc or Merlot from a cool climate will work well!
Serves 6-8
2 tbsp. olive oil
½ cup pancetta, Diced into roughly 1cm cubes
1 large onion, finely diced
2 carrots, finely diced
2 celery stalks, finely diced
4 garlic cloves, finely minced
½ bulb of fennel, finely diced
1 tsp. fennel seed
1lb ground beef or veal
1lb ground pork
1 cup full bodied red wine
1 cup 35% cream
4 cups diced tomatoes in juice
2 tbsp. tomato paste
2 bay leaves
1 cup beef stock
Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium low heat.
When hot add pancetta and cook until it begins to brown.
Next, add in the onion, carrot, celery, garlic fennel, fennel seed, and season with salt and pepper.
Cook for roughly 15-20 minutes, until vegetables lightly caramelized and become tender.
Increase the heat to medium high; add the ground meats, stirring to break apart any “clumps”.
Cook the meat until it begins to brown, this should take roughly 15 minutes.
Add in the red wine and scrape any “brown bits” stuck to the bottom of the pan.
Add cream, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, bay and beef stock.
Turn the heat to low and simmer for roughly 2 hours.
Serve over your favourite noodles.