Bolognese Sauce

I was virtuous on Sunday afternoon and cooked a Bolognese sauce for freezing and future consumption. I now have 12 little packages of sauce solidifying in the freezer and a satisfying feeling.

Ingredients:

• 2 large or 3 medium onions
• 2 - 3 cloves garlic
• 2 zucchini
• 2 carrots
• 300g mushrooms (any type)
• 3 - 4 anchovies in oil
• 500g beef mince
• 500g pork mince
• 750ml passata
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp sweet smoked paprika
• 2 tsp vegetable stock, vegetable stock powder or cube
• olive oil

Preparation:

• Chop onions roughly
• Squish garlic in garlic squisher
• Grate zucchini, carrot and mushrooms (a food processor is helpful here)
• Heat oil in a large frying pan or stovetop-safe casserole dish
• Brown meat in batches, remove to a separate plate or bowl
• Add a little more oil to pan and lower heat
• Cook onion over medium heat until translucent
• Add garlic and cook approx 1 minute
• Add spices and cook for 10 - 20 seconds
• Add anchovies and cook for approx 1 minute, breaking down with your spoon / spatula thingy
• Deglaze pan with a bit of passata if necessary
• Add grated vegetables to pan and cook down for a couple of minutes
• Add browned meat to pan and mix in
• Add vegetable stock gloop, powder or crumbled cube (do not dilute in water, this adds too much liquid)
• Add passata to pan and stir in, bring to boil
• Add pepper as required
• Cook, uncovered, for 1 - 2 hours over slow heat, just bubbling
• Makes approx 2.4 kg, approx 12 servings

Notes:

• This always tastes better the next day.
• The anchovies and the vegetable stock help add the middle notes to this sauce, which I found so hard to do when I first started cooking it. Red wine can also help with this, should you have any around, but it does add a lot of liquid. I like a dryish sauce, particularly for freezing as it tends to weep and separate when you defrost it, otherwise.
• Grating the vegetables not only deepens the flavour, it hides them from those children (and grown-ups) who have an aversion to visible vegetable matter, and improves the texture after defrosting.

This weekend's version had *lots* of swiss brown mushrooms, because I happened to have a lot around. It's resulted in a lovely dark colour and deep flavour.