Best-Ever Pasta Bolognese Recipe

Elevate your midweek pasta dinner with our best-ever Bolognese recipe – a great way to hide vegetables from the kids. Instead of serving over spaghetti, we like to dollop the ragu into pasta shells, then grill for 5 minutes to melt the cheese and crisp up the edges of the pasta shells.

Cooking time: 40 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients

400g button mushrooms
1 zucchini, roughly chopped
1 brown onion, roughly chopped
1 large carrot, roughly chopped
2 sticks celery, roughly chopped
2 tbs olive oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
400g beef mince
1 tsp dried oregano
¼ cup tomato sauce
800g can chopped tomatoes
400g large pasta shells
Finely grated parmesan cheese, to serve

Method
1. Place mushrooms and zucchini in a food processor, use pulse button to finely chop. Transfer to a bowl. Repeat with onion, carrot and celery.

2. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, mushroom mixture, and garlic. Cook, stirring 5-8 minutes or until soft.

3. Add mince, increase heat to medium-high and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes until browned all over. Add oregano and cook a further 3 minutes. Add tomato sauce and tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Season to taste. Reduce heat to low and simmer 30 minutes or until the sauce thickens.

4. Cook pasta shells in a saucepan of boiling salted water following packet instructions. Drain and set aside.

5. Combine pasta and sauce, mix well. Scatter with cheese and serve. For an interesting touch, place in an oven-proof dish and heat under a hot grill for 5 minutes to melt the cheese and crisp up the pasta shells slightly.

What’s your favourite midweek pasta recipe?