A hardy perennial round these parts. The recipe on the BBC does it well. I made a big batch with 2.5kg of mince which made c. 5kg of Bolognese for the freezer packed into 4 packs, sufficient for four dinners for our family for 7. The recipe below is for 500g mince. Multiple as you want for a big freezer batch.

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 4 streaky bacon, finely chopped
• 2 medium onions, finely chopped
• 2 carrots, trimmed and finely chopped
• 2 celery sticks, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves finely chopped
• 2-3 sprigs rosemary leaves picked and finely chopped
• 500g beef mince

For the Bolognese sauce

• 2 x 400g tins plum tomatoes, blitz
• small pack basil leaves picked, ¾ finely chopped and the rest left whole for garnish
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tbsp tomato purée
• 1 beef stock cube
• 1 red chilli deseeded and finely chopped
• 125ml red wine

To season and serve

• 75g parmesan grated, plus extra to serve
• 400g spaghetti
• crusty garlic bread

On high heat, fry the bacon in the olive oil till golden crispy.

Reduce the heat a little, then add the sofrito (onion, celery, and carrot), the garlic and rosemary and then fry for 10 mins. Stir the veg often until it softens. Add the tomato puree and stir until it starts to caramelise.

Increase the heat and add the mince and brown using a spoon to make sure it is well separated.

Then add the tomatoes, basil, oregano, bay leaves, stock cube, chilli, wine.

Stir and simmer for up to 4 hours if doing a large batch. The sauce will thicken and change to brown but delicious tomatoey colour.

Serve with spaghetti and parmesan cheese and maybe some garlic bread.