Cook Like A Chef S230 Minutes

Rich bolognese with rigatoni

Name: Rich bolognese with rigatoni
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 400g beef mince; 3 tbsp vegetable oil; 50g bacon, diced; 1 onion, finely sliced; 4 cloves garlic finely sliced; 2 carrots, grated on a box grater; 1 tbsp tomato paste; 2 bay leaves; 1 bunch of thyme; 1 parmesan rind; 400ml red wine; 500ml rich beef stock; 1 tin chopped tomatoes; Sea salt and black pepper; 320g dried rigatoni pasta; Grated parmesan, to garnish

Mark MoriartyFrom the series · Cook Like A Chef S2

30 min totalServes 4Easy

Time30 min

Serves4

SkillEasy

ShowCook Like A Chef

Method

Place a large, non-stick pan on the heat and add the oil. Go in with the mince and brown it all over as quickly as possible. Next, go in with the bacon, onion, garlic and grated carrot and cook for a further 3 mins until it starts to soften.

Season with a touch of salt at this point before adding the tomato paste, bay leaf, thyme and parmesan rind. Cook this for 2 minutes before adding the liquids. Add the red wine and reduce by half before adding the beef stock and chopped tomatoes.

Cook this over a medium heat for 15 to 20 mins, stirring regularly so it doesn’t catch on the base. Finish by topping up the seasoning with salt and pepper and removing the parmesan rind, thyme stalks and bay leaves.

Place a pot of water on the heat and bring to the boil, season with salt and add the rigatoni, cook for 12 mins until just cooked and strain into the bolognaise sauce. Mix this through and place in warm bowls, finish with some more grated parmesan and serve.

Cook's notes

Caramelise the mince properly and as quickly as possible — don't steam it in a crowded pan. Rush this stage and you lose half the depth of the dish.
Cook the tomato paste out for a couple of minutes before any liquid goes in — it needs that time in the dry heat to develop.
The parmesan rind gives the sauce a savoury richness as it simmers — remember to fish it out along with the thyme stalks and bay leaves at the end.
Reduce the red wine by half before the stock and tomatoes go in, so you cook off the raw alcohol and keep the depth.
Finish the pasta in the sauce, not the other way around — strain the rigatoni straight in so a splash of its cooking water emulsifies everything together, and add the cheese at the end to bind it.

Serve with Plenty of grated parmesan and a hunk of crusty bread to mop the bowl. A simple green salad and a glass of Italian red — Sangiovese or Montepulciano — round it off.

Make ahead & storage This is a batch-cooking sauce — cook once, eat twice. It keeps 3 days in the fridge, freezes well in portions for up to 3 months, and genuinely tastes better the next day. Cook the rigatoni fresh each time and reheat the sauce gently, loosening with a splash of pasta water.

30 Minutes

Recipe by Mark Moriarty · From the series Cook Like A Chef S2 · Photography © Appetite Media
Published 13 July 2026 · Updated 15 July 2026

Nutrition

Per serving · estimated

933kcal

39gprotein

78gcarbs

44gfat

Approximate — calculated from the ingredient list using USDA food data. A guide, not a medical figure.

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