Happy Monday lovelies!  Hope you had a good one?

Today I explained to Judd that lots of kids started school for the first time today, and one day it will be Judd’s turn.  And Mummy will cry!
Judd turned to me and said “Judd will cry too Mummy.”
*Heart melts*

How did everyone go dropping their littlies off to school?  I’m sure some (maybe the Mum’s with high school age children?) were jumping for joy?

In other news, Judd grabbed my hair so hard today holding onto me, he ripped a huge chunk out.

Oh. the. pain.

Anyway, the ragu recipe I made when I made the brownie for dessert has been requested, so here it is:

Bolognese Ragu with Linguine
– Recipe based on Jamie Oliver’s Bolognese Ragu with Tagliatelle 

Makes 4

Ingredients
400g beef mince
400g linguine
1 red onion
2 cloves garlic
3 sticks celery
1 small bunch flat leaf parsley
4 sprigs fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
1 teaspoon chopped dried red chilli
200ml chicken stock
100ml white wine
50ml unsalted butter
olive oil

Method
– Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.
– Peel the garlic cloves.  Chop the onion into quarters, and the celery into 10 cms pieces.  Whiz in a food processor or thermomix (3 seconds, speed 7) until very finely chopped.
– Pick the leaves from the parsley and put to one side.  Finely chop the stalks.
– Put a large ovenproof saucepan on a medium heat with a dash of olive oil.
– Crush the fennel seeds and dried chilli in a pestle and mortar with a dash of sea salt.
– Tip the garlic, celery and onion mixture into the saucepan, add the chopped parsley stalks, the rosemary sprigs and the fennel and chilli mix.  Fry this for a few minutes or until they start to soften.

– Add the beef mince, turn up the heat to high and fry for a few minutes.  Once the meat has released it’s juices, stir until they boil away.  The mince should begin to fry again.

– Add the tomato puree and stir through.
– Add the wine and bring to the boil so it evaporates.
– Add the tinned tomatoes and the stock.
– Bring to the boil, then cover with a lid and place in the oven for 1 hour.

– Cook the linguine as per packet directions, in a pot of salted boiling water.
– Take the ragu out of the oven and check the consistency.  If it is watery, place on the stove over medium heat for a few minutes, to reduce and thicken up.  If it isn’t watery, leave covered to one side whilst the pasta is prepared.
– When the pasta is ready, scoop out a mugful of cooking water, and then drain the remaining water.
– Tip the pasta back into the saucepan and pour the ragu sauce over the top.
– Stir both the ragu and pasta together and season if required.  If you feel the sauce is too thick gradually add a little of the reserved cooking water until the desired consistency is achieved.

– Finely grate over the parmesan, then add the butter and stir through.
– Once on plates, add some more parmesan and some parsley leaves on top.

 

This meal is really decadent.  You can omit the extra butter and the extra parmesan to save a few calories.  It can take it to the next level though so if you are entertaining, I say why the hell not!?