Bolognese Sauce

This is a lovely sauce that is used in a lot of Italian dishes. You can use it for just about any pasta dish. Or toss it with pasta as it is and it's a meal. So easy! That's why (and because my husband loves it) I keep lots of it in my freezer.

Recently Bolognese sauce evolved to be a tomato based meat sauce, while if you look at its history, you'll learn that it is a meat sauce that is supposed to be flavoured with some tomato. We all know it as a red sauce, but in fact it's not supposed to have that much tomato in it at all. That's if you want it to be authentic, of course.
I've adapted my old tomato-packed recipe so that it more closely resembles the authentic recipe.

Ingredients
olive oil (for frying)
1 cup chopped bacon
4 cups chopped onion
3 cups grated carrot
2 cups chopped celery
6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2kg mince meat (preferably beef)
4 bay leaves
3 cans tomato or about 10 large tomatoes
1 cup red wine
Salt and pepper

Heat the oil in a large pot and fry the bacon until cooked through. Turn the heat down to medium low and add the onions, carrots and celery. Sauté until the onions are soft. Add the tomatoes. If you are using fresh tomatoes, let them soften, otherwise just let them heat through before blending it until smooth. Set aside.
Using the same pot, add cooking fat of your choice and the mince meat. Stir-fry until the meat starts to brown and add the tomato base back into the pot. Add the wine, bay leaves, salt and pepper and stir.
Turn the heat down to low and simmer for two hours, stirring occasionally.
Check the seasoning and adjust f needed before you leave it to cool for freezing.

And there you have it! (Almost) Authentic bolognese sauce! Use it with just about any pasta dish you can imagine, like layering a lovely lasagna. It's perfect for those days when you really don't know what to cook: just thaw, cook some pasta, mix and serve.