Modestly....the world's best bolognese sauce

The best known but probably least authentically reproduced of all Italian pasta sauces - wait until you've tried this one, you'll never use another recipe!

Ingredients:

250 g minced pork
250 g minced beef
100 g best quality sausage meat
100g smoked lardons
40 g butter
1 red onion - diced
3 carrots - chopped
1 celery stalk - diced
1 bay leaf
freshly ground nutmeg
1 glass white wine
15 ml/1 tbsp tomato paste
1 glass of chicken stock
400 g tinned plum tomato - chopped
salt and black pepper
freshly grated parmesan cheese
Olive oil

Instructions:

Heat some olive oil and half the butter in a sturdy pan and add the onion, carrots, celery and lardons and season well. Cook gently for 10 minutes, stirring regularly. Add the pork, beef and sausage meat and cook over a higher heat for 10 mins or until any remaining pinkness has left the meats. Add bay leaf and white wine and let it reduce. Then add chicken stock and tomato paste again allowing liquid to reduce before finally adding tinned tomatoes. Add a small amount of freshly ground nutmeg.

Cook gently for 90 minutes stirring occasionally.

5 minutes before serving mix in parmesan cheese and remaining butter, ensuring ingredients are fully combined with sauce. Remove bay leaf.

Finally add sauce to freshly cooked pasta with more parmesan if required and enjoy with a good glass of red!