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1
First make the soffritto, finely chop the onion, carrot and celery and sweat it down gently in a large pan with plenty of olive oil, put the lid on, and stir every so often, for about 15 to 20 minutes.
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2
You want everything to be soft, sweet and golden, but not browned.
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3
While the vegetables are cooking fry the bacon until the fat is rendered, then remove from the frying pan and add the minced beef.
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4
Fry this until browned and any meat juices released have bubbled away.
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5
When the vegetables are cooked, add the garlic, fresh rosemary and stir until the aromas are released, then pour the vermouth in to the pan.
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6
This has to be plain dry vermouth, you can use white wine instead, as Antonio suggests, but vermouth keeps longer, is cheaper and does the same job.
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7
Tip the meat into the pan too and deglaze the frying pan with a little more vermouth.
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8
Add that to the pan together with the dried sage, tinned tomatoes and the stock.
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9
Cut the tomatoes up roughly.
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10
Add lots of black pepper, and some white pepper too if you have some.
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11
Add a little more stock if you need to, you should have quite a loose soupy mixture so there's lots of liquid to cook away.
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12
Put the lid on and simmer on a low heat, stirring every now and then, for about 1 and a half to 2 hours.
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13
Taste, and add more salt and pepper if you need to.
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14
Keep cooking until most of the liquid has been absorbed.
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15
When you're ready to eat, cook the spaghetti, drain and toss in melted butter, salt, pepper and a little Parmesan cheese.
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16
Then add to the ragu some grated lemon zest, the crushed garlic and finely chopped rosemary.
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17
This is a tip from Jamie Oliver, it adds a lovely zingy finish to the beef.
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18
Serve the ragu on top of a pile of spaghetti, with some grated Parmesan.
