Spaghetti with Slow cooked Veal Ragu

One of the great things about being back in Australia is the affordability and availability of great ingredients to whip up a delicious but simple pasta meal... something that I really missed when I was in Singapore. This is a dead simple dish but very tasty and perfect for a fuss free mid week dinner.

Ingredients
400g good quality veal shank (which your butcher can happily mince up for you)
350g dried good quality spaghetti

Bottle of Passata
Glass of white wine
2 cloves Garlic thinly sliced
2 dried bay leaves
Diced carrots, celery and onions
Roughly chopped Italian parsley
Extra virgin olive oil
The all important parmesan (get your hands on Parmigiano Reggiano if you can get some - it makes all the difference)
Splash of full cream.

Salt and pepper to taste

Method
1. Slowly fry up the carrots, celery, onions and garlic in the olive oil with a pinch of sea salt on a low heat and cover (this is to allow the vegetables to steam and not burn) - after around 5 minutes,the onions should be slightly translucent.
2. Add mince to pan and brown. Pour in the passata, chopped parsley stalks, bay leaves. Bring to a simmer, turn down to a medium low heat, cover and leave to cook for approximately 40 minutes. You can basically forget about the ragu at this stage and go about and do whatever you need to do.
3. 10 minutes before the end of cooking time, boil up the pasta in plenty of salted boiling water.
4. Season the ragu with salt, pepper and a teaspoon of sugar. Add three handfuls of the grated cheese, splash of cream and toss the pasta through.

Serve up on a heated plate garnished with more cheese and chopped parsley.

A simply cooked meal that's simply delicious - exactly what home cooking should be all about.