Now that we're getting a bit more
routine back into our lives, I'm trying
to get myself a bit more organised
for the coming weeks and one of the things I
like to do, just to get ahead a bit
is to do some batch cooking and I find
one of the most useful dishes to make is
like a really simple
meat sauce. It forms the basis of loads
of different dishes
and it's really good for freezing. Fabio,
I think this is the sort of thing that
you ought to be able to make like the
back of your hand. Because it's so
useful for everything.
It's the basis for so many
different dishes. Now what we're going to
start with
is the classic trio of celery, onion
and carrot otherwise known as soffritto
and soffritto
again is a starting point for loads and
loads and loads of different dishes
and you need to chop it quite finely.
Now because we're batch cooking we're
going to make enough sauce here for at
least eight to ten portions which is why
i've got such a large
pan. I'm gonna put a little bit of olive
oil in.
Next I'm gonna use some smoked streaky
bacon, I really like this one it's
beach smoked but if you want to you can just
use lardons that are already smoked and
diced for you
or pancetta. Erm I've just cut this into
strips with a pair of scissors. How are
you getting on?
Doing good. Good. Just, you know, one
centimetre wide pieces
and then we're just going to give that a
couple of minutes before we add the veg,
just let it catch a little bit of colour.
I'm just using a really simple method
and this is one that I've always made
it's the way that nana makes it-
very, very straightforward but the bacon
that we put in,
I think the mixture of bacon with the
beef
gives it a really good flavour and you
know sometimes when um
we're doing something like um pork ribs
I always
keep a couple back and add those. Add them to
the sauce. Yeah
and meat on the bone works really well.
Your nana always puts a couple of lamb
chops in her sauce. Yeah every single time.
Yeah. Nana's speciality. Yeah you could
put a little bit of chorizo in there,
we're not trying to be
you know authentic or follow any rules
we're just adding the flavours that
we've got around.
Things we think would be nice. Just things
we think would be nice, exactly right.
I'll tell you what else you can do with
it Fabio. Yeah. You can add some
spices to it and some beans and make a
basic chilli mixture.
That'd be nice. That would be nice or a
burrito or a taco. Exactly
or just serve it with some rice. You
could add
some curry paste and some cumin seeds
and some peas and spinach
and and spice it up that way. This goes
well like so many different things. It
does.
Let's get this into the pan now and
these need to cook now quite gently,
here goes the carrot, for about 10
minutes just until they start to really,
really soften.
Ooh my eyes are watering! Yeah me too!
I wonder if it's a time of year for
onions because they don't normally get
to me. They're really strong!
We will put a link to the recipe in the
description and also some ideas for
other things,
other recipes that you can make with a
basic sauce.
Now one of the other things we need to
include here are a couple of cloves of
garlic. Now you know in recipes it often
says to finely chop them or crush them. Yeah.
I actually think crushing it with a big
knife is a little bit of a palava,
it gets quite sticky on your board, you
might find it easier
just to use a fine grater- that's another
thing you're going to need for your kit
when you move home isn't it, a decent
a decent fine grater. Okay just grate it
straight in just be a bit careful of
your thumb when you get towards the end.
Now the other thing I'm going to add is
some basil, I've got quite a nice bunch
here, um, basil tends to get added at the
end of a dish which I agree with, I think
it's really, really nice it's got a
fantastic fresh flavour but I also think
if you add it early on, it sort of cooks
down and develops
a whole different level of flavour. So you
get two different
types of flavour. You get a double
basil, exactly right Fabio.
Now we're using this Aberdeen Angus
which is 15 percent
fat and I think that mince with a little
bit more fat in, because you can get it
with five percent or ten percent,
I think a bit more fat adds to the
flavour and the texture
but you know. Because fat brings out the flavour.
And it also feels differently in your
mouth
and. And different textures. Obviously
it's a personal choice
and that and when when we eat this sauce
actually you don't have a huge amount,
you're just coating the pasta
so I think I'd rather have a small
amount that's got lots and lots and lots
of flavour. Than a large amount with not a
lot of flavour.
It's personal preference though isn't it.
So in that goes, now I'm gonna just use
two beef, you can tip those in if you
like
Just evenly brown the mince and that'll take
about 10 minutes.
You can have the heat quite high here
because what you don't want to happen
is for the meat to start releasing its
juices because if it does that it starts
to sort of um
almost poach and you want it to fry so
you might find that you need to, once
you've put the meat in,
the temperature in the pan goes down so
you might want to raise the heat just so
that you can seal it.
Tomatoes. Yes in they go, four cans of
chopped tomatoes and
make sure you get all of it out. We're
going to be adding some water
as well if you want to you can just – I
always like to. That's quite smart!
Quite just to get the last bit out. Nana's technique! It is nana's technique!
Get our as much as you can.
So let's just give these a little swirl,
it was 500 mils of water,
it's about half a can for each one
really, maybe a bit less.
Now what next? Uh tomato puree. Yeah,
you need a couple of tablespoons which
is probably
about it's probably about a third of the
can.
Nana's famous oregano. Yeah we're going
to use dried oregano
you can use other herbs, put a good
sprinkle in, I would just use your
fingers if I was you. Just use my fingers?
Well just because it's more controllable
isn't it, it's very easy for
to go woomph! Um you don't have to use
oregano,
I always do, I love it. Smell that, it's so
lovely.
You could add a dried bay leaf or two
and you can put
fennel seeds in. Fennel seeds, especially
if you've got some pork in the mixture,
that's lovely. A couple of sprigs of
rosemary from the garden,
in the go. Now you give it a really good
stir together, it also needs a bit of
seasoning and then it needs to cook,
how long do you think? Hour and a half,
two hours? An hour and a half to two
hours and what happens is it gets much
darker and thicker
and richer and you sometimes see if
you've left it undisturbed that the oil
has risen to the surface
but just keep an eye on it. If it starts
to get dry you might want to put the lid
on,
you can put the lid on sort of half on and
half off. So like some of the steam can
come out but some of it stays.
So you get a little bit of evaporation.
Or if you feel it's looking too dry
just add a splash more water.
Now we're going to serve our meat sauce
with gnocchi and it's a real favourite in
this house.
I love it mostly because it takes only
three minutes to cook but actually the
texture
of gnocchi it's so lovely isn't it,
squidgy.
I mean it's essentially potato. It's just
just potato
yeah, but it's it's like comfort food.
It's like comfort food.
Only takes three minutes as well so in
that goes and then we're gonna add
the leftover basil to the sauce. We're
going to take it off the stalks though
and we're just going to cook it just for
a moment while that gnocchi cooks and
it'll just
it doesn't even completely wilt down
just a little bit.
Do you know what I like it with? What do
you like it with? I like
it in a baking dish, like a couple of
inches,
mac and cheese on the top, in the oven
until it's bubbling.
Do you not think that's lovely. I can see that, I can see that. It's sort
of you know
a bit got its heart in lasagna but much
but different and easier. Yeah that sounds really nice. Cheesy sauce.
Or like a baked potato. Baked potato is
really good maybe we should do some tiny
portion sizes for you so that when you
need something to eat. Cut it open, put it in.
Just warm up a little portion.That'd be very nice.
In like a little bowl put in the
microwave. Bit of cheese.
Bit of cheese. Sweet potato even? Now Fabio take
a look.
Yeah those are good! What are they doing?
Starting to rise to the surface. Yeah
that means they're ready, we just need
just a couple of spoonfuls. Alright, do
you want to dish this up for you and
Cass?
Now while he does that. Hello. Hello! Do you want some gnocchi?
She's not gonna be happy when she sees
it's red. She's not gonna be happy. Why won't I be happy?
It's not your signature of cheese and broccoli!
I'm sure it'll be great either way! It
does look delicious don't you think?
It smells really nice too. Beef sauce as well!
I'm just gonna let this cool to room
temperature and when it's nice and cool,
I'm going to freeze this and use it in
lots and lots of different dishes.
So Fabio next time you're going to make
this
without any, no help from me. I don't need
any help!
You've got this one nailed right? Close! If I
forget I can always watch the video.
You can always watch the video! I'll tell
you what the real test would be,
next time you make it for your nana!
Make it for nana?! That's quite tough though,
it's probably not going to be up to her
standards, it certainly won't be!
