Best ever spaghetti bolognese

I know this is a baking blog but please bear with me. The book for this months cupcake book club was 'Leftovers' by Stella Newman .

I loved this book and enjoyed the characters and story very much. It features Susie ,a thirty something, unhappy in her job and obsessed with food, in particular pasta. Although sweet things are mentioned, including a heart attack inducing 'death by brownie cheesecake I thought I would stay true to Susie's first love and make a pasta dish that is mentioned.

The best ever bolognese piqued my interest as although I do like bolognese I would probably always chose  something over it. So the promise of it being the best I had ever had was a challenge I had to take.

Best ever Bolognese, serves 3

1 onion
1 large carrot
1 celery stick
2 cloves of garlic
250g beef mince
125g pork mince
400-500g passata 
1/2 bottle red wine
2 decent sprigs of rosemary
seasoning, to taste

parmesan and cooked spaghetti to serve

Finely chop the onion, carrot and celery. Heat 1 tsp of oil in a pan (I used a big, deep frying pan) then turn the heat down to its lowest setting, add the chopped veg to the pan and very gently cook for 10 minutes.

Turn up the heat and add  both minces, fry until browned. Add the garlic and fry for a further minute. Turn the heat down super low, as low as it will go, almost off. Add the passata, 1/2 the red wine and the rosemary and allow to slowly slowly cook. You will need to keep an eye on it., Every 40 minutes or so, give it a stir and  top up with some of the remaining wine. Once you have used all the remaining wine up add splashes of water.

Cook for as long as you have 4-6 hours. Serve up with cooked spaghetti and parmesan cheese.

I was pushed for time a bit so cooked mine for 4 hours. And the verdict? It was really really good. The depth of flavour was absolutely fantastic. The only downside is that I will not want to eat regular bolognese again! So all in all a success!