I love dried porcini mushrooms and one of my favourite Paulie dinner’s which uses them is his beef or veal ragu. This was a joint effort as I made the pasta and he made the ragu and both elements were as yummy as one another. I love the rich tomato sauce which soaks up the flavour of the beef, porcini mushrooms, wine and Worcester sauce they all bring their much needed flavour to the table to make this a comforting bowl of yumminess! I think homemade pasta is worth the effort as there is something satisfying about running the dough through the machine and then through the spaghetti cutter and drying it out I get engrossed and lost but in a good way and enjoy reaping the rewards for my effort at dinner time.

Ingredients

• 500g Beef Mince
• Portion of homemade spaghetti (recipe here)
• 100g Pancetta or Streaky Bacon – chopped
• 2 x onions chopped
• 2 x tins of chopped tomatoes
• Small glass of red wine
• 200ml of beef stock
• Splash of Worcestershire Sauce
• 2 Tbsp of Tomato Puree
• Handful Porcini Mushrooms (pre-soaked in warm water for 20 minutes)
• Grated Parmesan to finish

Method

1. Heat a Sauté/Frying pan and when hot add the pancetta or bacon and fry for around 2 minutes allowing the fat to render into the pan
2. Next add the mince to the pan and brown for about 5 minutes
3. Once browned, depending on the fattiness of the meat you might want to drain off the excess fat using a fine sieve
4. Now add the chopped onions to the mince mixture and sweat them off over a medium heat for a couple of minutes or until they turn translucent – try not to let them go brown
5. Next add the remaining ingredients (tins of chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, glass of red wine, beef stock, soaked mushrooms and the Worcestershire sauce)
6. Bring to the boil and then cover. Turn down heat to the lowest level and simmer for about an hour until the sauce has reduced.
7. Cook pasta in boiling water until it floats, then serve the ragu in a bowl over the pasta and grate with parmesan.