Amoroso Bolognese

This is the base of the meat sauce at Amoroso - a mixture of meat, wine and tomatoes. Maeda-san adds rosemary to the sauce to reduce the scent of the meat - nutmeg would also work, but nutmeg doesn't pair well with wine.

Maeda-san makes a huge batch and freezes it. He finishes it by adding extra ingredients if he feels it needs something special to match his menu. The original recipe calls for 2kg of beef and filled a huge saucepan. Since I don't have a pot that big, I've cut it to a more manageable size.

Amoroso Bolognese

100 g onion
100 g carrot
100 g celery
olive oil
1/4 tsp fresh rosemary
1/2 tsp salt
500 g ground beef
1/2 bottle (or so) red wine
1 can (250 g) whole tomatoes and water to rinse can

Mince the onion, carrot and celery. Cook over medium-low heat until onions are translucent (about 20 minutes). Add ground beef, increasing heat slightly to brown beef. Season with salt and rosemary. Pour in enough red wine to cover the meat mixture completely. Simmer slowly until the wine is reduced and the meat is no longer covered (it will look dry on top, but will be wet if you stir it). Crush the tomatoes and add to the meat. Simmer on low for two hours.

This is the base sauce which can be frozen.

To finish: Heat a ladle of sauce in a skillet. Add a big lump of butter (maybe 2 Tbsp) and cook until the sauce looks creamy. Toss in your cooked pasta. Salt to taste. Remove from heat and stir in a handful of grated Parmesan cheese.