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Blonde Ragu with Pork, Veal & Sage

I’m going to go out on a limb here and claim that not many Brits have eaten a blonde meat sauce. It’s probably the least known of all the ragu pasta sauces, and this is a shame, because it’s really delicious. It’s cooked in almost exactly the same way as the other sauces: a mix of butter and olive oil, soffrito (I use garlic although classically you don’t), veal and pork mince, pancetta or smoked bacon, all the woody herbs, but then instead of tomato you add white wine and milk and finish the sauce with cream, sage, lemon zest and nutmeg. The sauce clings to the pasta – always use a wide variety such as pappardelle or tagliatelle – and is then finished with loads of freshly grated Parmesan.

Any leftover ragu works really well on a pizza or in a grilled cheese sandwich. Strange but fantastic.

SERVES 8

Preparation time 45 minutes

Cooking time 2 hours

4 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp butter

2 large onions, finely chopped

2 medium carrots, finely chopped

2 leeks, trimmed and finely chopped

2 celery sticks, finely chopped

6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

400g pork mince

400g veal mince

200g piece of smoked bacon or pancetta, skinned, trimmed, chopped and minced in a food processor

3–4 bay leaves

3 sprigs of rosemary

few sprigs of thyme

400ml dry white wine

1 pint whole milk

1 pint fresh chicken stock

300ml double cream

zest of 2 lemons

leaves of ½ small bunch of sage

½ nutmeg, grated

½ tsp freshly ground black pepper

Parmesan, to serve

Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil and 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large flameproof casserole. Add the onions, carrots, leeks, celery and garlic and cook over a very low heat for about 30 minutes, or until they have softened, lost all their water and are tinged with a golden hue.

Meanwhile heat a frying pan until very hot, add the rest of the oil and brown the pork and veal mince together with the bacon or pancetta in batches. Transfer the meat and any juices to the casserole. Add the bay leaves, rosemary and thyme and then pour over the white wine. Bring to the boil and cook for 5 minutes, then pour over the milk and stock. When the liquid comes to the boil, lower the heat and partially cover the casserole with a lid. Cook gently for 2 hours.

The sauce is ready when the meat is cooked and the sauce reduced and super-rich. At this point pour over the cream and add the lemon zest, sage leaves and nutmeg and give everything a good stir. Let this cook for a further 5 minutes to reduce a little and take on these last flavours. In the meantime cook your pasta. Season the sauce and then pour a couple of ladlefuls over each portion of pasta and serve with Parmesan and lots of black pepper.