Courgetti And Ragu - cooking recipe

Ingredients

2 tablespoons ghee (or butter)
2 onions, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 dried bay leaves
1/4 teaspoon mixed spice (or try a tiny pinch of nutmeg)
2 teaspoons dried oregano
400 g beef mince (chuck or braising steak, not lean meat)
100 g chicken livers, trimmed and chopped
250 ml red wine
14 large tomatoes, roughly chopped (approx. 1 kilo, or 2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes or 800g tomato passata)
2 teaspoons tomato puree
200 ml bone broth (you won't need much if using tinned tomatoes) or 200 ml water (you won't need much if using tinned tomatoes)
2 large carrots, finely grated
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 large handful fresh parsley, finely chopped
4 large courgettes
knob butter
extra virgin olive oil, to serve
100 g parmesan cheese, grated, to serve

Preparation

Heat the ghee or butter in a large saucepan and gently fry the onion over a low heat until softened but not browned (about 10 minutes). Add the garlic, bay leaves, mixed spice, oregano and fry for a further two minutes.
Increase the heat and add the beef to the pan, using a wooden spatula to break it up as you cook.
After five minutes, add the chicken livers, pour in the red wine and stir to deglaze the pan, then add the tomatoes, tomato puree and bone broth or water.
Bring to the boil, cover with a lid, leaving the lid just slightly off, then reduce to a gentle simmer, stirring occasionally, for 21/2 hours, or until rich and thickened. It is even better after 3-4 hours. Keep an eye on it and add more liquid if needed.
Add the grated carrots 15 minutes before the end of cooking. Turn up the heat to a medium simmer and season with sea salt, a good grind of pepper and the fresh parsley.
Meanwhile, use a spiralizer or julienne peeler to make the spaghetti from the courgettes. This is the courgetti. Or you can use a regular vegetable peeler to slice the courgettes lengthways into very wide ribbons, which you can then slice in half. You might want to cut the long strands in half to make them easier to eat.
Soften the courgetti in a pan with a little butter, stirring over a low heat for three minutes. Alternatively, save washing up another pan by just running some of the hot sauce through your spirals - the heat and salt in the sauce will soften them.
Serve the courgette and beef ragu in bowls. Drizzle each bowl with extra virgin olive oil and serve with grated parmesan.